The Kaira Files
by Koujo Wheeler
Summary: Ch 16 Kaira vs Jin in a sparring match... why does this not sound good?
1. New Partner

            "What do you mean I'm getting a new partner?! What's wrong with you and the other three I already have?" 16-year-old Yusuke Urameshi looked at his Spirit World assistant, Botan, also known as the Grim Reaper, an angered look covering his face. He couldn't even look at Kuwabara- he was probably laughing his head off at the outburst. Yusuke had had to put up with a lot of shit since becoming a Spirit Detective two years ago, but this took the cake- Koenma, also known by Yusuke as the toddler ruler of the Spirit World, was pushing it this time. "I mean, come on!" he continued. "With Kurama and his rose whip, Hiei and his demon-ness, Kuwabara and his Spirit Sword and my own Spirit Gun, how much more help could I need? Does that little toddler think I'm that helpless or what?" Botan had to smile- it was rather amusing to her when Yusuke got like this. But she figured now might be a good time to set things straight.

            "Yusuke," she said, calmly. "Granted, you do have me and three other qualified partners, but Kurama and Hiei have cases of their own and I can't always help you. That leaves Kuwabara..." Yusuke was about to ask what was wrong with Kuwabara, but restrained himself- a comment like that would make it look like he actually cared about the guy.

            "And what's wrong with me?!" exclaimed Kuwabara. Yusuke cracked a smile- besides, why should he say anything when he had Kuwabara, who would say it for him? Botan tried her hardest to stifle a giggle, but failed miserably and ended up laughing hysterically.

            "There is nothing wrong with you, Kuwabara," she said, still trying to regain control of herself. "You're just fine."

            "Keh," muttered Yusuke. "Like that's been satisfactorily determined." Kuwabara shot him a menacing glare and looked like he was ready to take Yusuke's head off.

            "But," Botan continued, barely managing to stop the fight before it began. "You two seem to enjoy beating on each other more than on the demons and Koenma feels that there should be a peacekeeper along for the ride." Yusuke chuckled.

            "So what'd he do?" he asked. "Hire some peace loving, tree hugging, demon hippy boy to baby-sit me and Kuwabara?" Botan shook her head.

            "First of all, it's not a demon- this person is just as human as you and Kuwabara, although I've never seen someone with as much spirit energy as she..."

            "Huh?" asked Kuwabara. "Pardon me, Botan, but I coulda swore that you just said 'she.'" Botan slightly sweat dropped as she nodded.

            "Yes, you heard right- your new partner is a girl."

            "WHAT?!" cried both Yusuke and Kuwabara. A GIRL?!

            "Wait a second," said Yusuke. "Kayko isn't too thrilled with this whole spirit detective thing as it is- you throw in some chick that'll be following me around and she'll be pissed!" Suddenly, a light giggle filled the room.

            "I don't think you'll have to worry about that." Everyone turned around to see me standing in the doorway, leaning up against the door jam, arms crossed in front of me. Yusuke just looked at me, a rather surprised look on his face.

            "Kaira?" I nodded, with a smile.

            "Hey Yusuke," I said. "It's been a long time- about six years now right?" He nodded as I walked into the room, and right over to him. We just stood there for a second staring at each other, until Yusuke, in a very un-Yusuke like manner, wrapped his arms around me and held me in a warm embrace, which I returned just as warmly. Like I said, very un-Yusuke.

            "It's great to see you, Kay," he said before letting me go. "But, what are you doing here?" Botan cleared her throat and smiled.

            "Yusuke," she said. "This is your new partner." Kuwabara looked at Yusuke, rather confused.

            "Who's this, Urameshi?" he asked. Yusuke looked at him.

            "Kuwabara," he said. "This is my cousin, Kaira Urameshi- her father and mine were brothers." I looked at him with a sly smile.

            "Just cousin, Yusuke?" I asked. "You replace me all ready?" Yusuke returned my grin and shook his head.

            "Nah- who could replace you as a best friend?"

            "Nice to meet you, Kara," he said pleasantly and was rather shocked when I started to frown.

            "My name is Kaira," I said, rather angrily. "Kah-ee-rah." My smile then returned as I let out a giggle. "No offense, Kuwabara, but I'm really sick of people screwing that up." The boy nodded his reply as he checked me out. 

            "She could be Urameshi's twin," he thought. I did have the same raven colored hair (but mine was highlighted red), same dark brown eyes (although mine were outlined with a pair of neon green framed eye glasses), the same sly smile. He also noticed that Yusuke and I seemed to have the same favorite color- both of us were wearing a green jacket over our normal clothes- mine being a pair of tight black denim jeans, a blue t-shirt with white lettering that said "Forget about my attitude- let me adjust yours," red sneakers and finally, a thin gold chain with a small "K" charm dangling from it, which had been a gift from my father. Yusuke was sporting his normal attire of blue jeans, a white t-shirt and black sneakers... his favorite outfit for the past ten years at least.

            "Do you still have yours?" Yusuke said suddenly, bringing Kuwabara back to his present state of mind. I nodded, took off my jacket and rolled up my right sleeve. Tattooed there on my shoulder, in incredible detail, was a blood red dragon, the head facing right and the tail, which had some writing on it, was facing left. I looked at him and smiled.

            "What about you?" Yusuke then took off his jacket and rolled up his left sleeve.

            Tattooed on his shoulder was also a dragon, with writing on the tail. The only differences were that his dragon was a crimson red and was the mirror image of mine- the head faced left and the tail faced right. Yusuke and I then put our arms side by side, which made the dragons face each other and lined up the writing on the dragons' tails. Starting with my dragon, the sentence read: "Family by Fate, Friends by Choice." I smiled.

            "Dad never made me remove it, like he said he would," I told Yusuke. "He knew how much it meant to me so he didn't have the heart."

            "Hey, where is Uncle Rick, anyway?" asked Yusuke. "He at the house with Mom or what?" My smile fell as I shook my head.

            "No, Yusuke," I said. "He's... he's not with your mom, Yusuke." My cousin looked at me, rather confused.

            "Well, where is he? Couldn't he got off work?" I shook my head again.

            "No... Yusuke, Dad died a few months ago." Yusuke was taken aback. He didn't know about that, but he did know how close I had been with my father- after all, since my mother died when I was ten, the last time Yusuke and I had seen each other, Dad and I were all the other had. 

            "Kay," he said. "I am so sorry. If I would have known... why didn't you call me? I would have been there in an instant!" I looked at the ground.

            "I'm sorry, Yusuke," I said. "I just didn't know what to do at the time... That's the reason I'm a spirit detective now- my confusion."

            "What?" asked Kuwabara. "What do you mean by that?" I looked at him, sighed and began to tell my story.

**Hey, everyone! Kaira here. Yusuke may be happy to see me now, but will he be when finds out how I became Spirit Detective? We'll find out next time on Yu-Yu Hakusho!**


	2. Kaira's Story

"I cried for five hours straight after I found out my father died," I said. "He'd been killed in a accident at the construction site where he worked. I couldn't believe he was gone- he had told me that he'd always be there, no matter what." I took a deep breath before continuing- unlike my cousin, I could be really sensitive at times. This was one of them. "I turned into your mother, Yusuke," I continued. "Drinking all the booze I could get my hands on, even if it meant stealing it. And then there was that one night... three months after Dad died, everything changed." As I set the scene for the story, the memories came flooding back.

The apartment that I had once shared with my father had certainly seen better days, that was for sure- pizza boxes, various Coke bottles and Chinese take-out cartons were all over the place, along with something I never thought I'd see in my possession- alcohol. And we're not talking the rubbing kind; Black Velvet (goes great with diet or regular Coke), Gin (also great with regular Coke), Vanilla Vodka (excellent with Vanilla Coke), Tequila and the list went on. A half empty (or half full, however you want to look at it) bottle of Jack Daniels was open in my hand as I laid on the couch watching TV.

"You're losing it, Kaira," I thought to myself. "What would your dad say if he saw you like this?" I then closed my bottle of Daniels, got up off the couch and wobbly headed into the kitchen.

Once I managed to get there, I pulled a gallon of chocolate ice cream out of the freezer, opened it up and put a few scoops into a blender with some milk, chocolate syrup and a sizable amount of some peppermint flavored schnapps. After putting the top on the blender and pureeing it for a couple minutes I reached towards a large glass on the counter... which happened to be right next to a set of kitchen knives. "No," I thought. "That's not the way..." My hand reached towards the biggest knife, a butcher knife, although I was mentally trying to call it back. It slowly came out of it's slot, even though part of me was trying to put it back in.

"When it was fully out," I told my companions. "I looked at the blade glistening in the light... then put it up against my neck."

"Kaira," said Yusuke. "You..." He couldn't believe what I was saying- sure, he and I were both die hard, life long members of the "Hard-Luck Club:" not the world's greatest in school, lived on the streets every now and then, had the reputation of being the tough kid around town and lost a parent... well, I had lost both of my parents, but that was no reason to kill myself. Yusuke fumbled to finish his sentence, so I decided to give him a hand.

"No matter how much I told myself I didn't want to," I said. "I probably would have killed myself that night... until I heard the commotion next door." Yusuke and Kuwabara gave me questioning looks, but Botan knew exactly what I was talking about- I had already told her this story. "The family that lived next door to me consisted of a deadbeat father and his two victims: a five-year-old daughter and his wife. I heard him beating on them again- man, that little girl had a lot of guts. She was standing up to him like he was nothing... when I heard her slam into the wall that separated our apartments, that was the last straw. I instantly sobered up and headed over. When I got there, he was holding his daughter up against the wall by her neck. I told him to let her go, but he just laughed and asked what I was going to do about it." I smiled, blew on my fist and rubbed it on my shirt. "Keh, he found out exactly what I was going to do. I had him beaten to a pulp until he got one lucky shot off- he hit me with a punch that sent me flying out a large picture window." I smiled and looked at Botan. "That's when I met Botan."

"Met Botan?!" cried Yusuke. "But she's the Grim Reaper! To meet her, you have to be..." I nodded.

"I lived on the tenth floor Yusuke," I told him. "Falling out a window at that height would kill a person." Once again, I flashed back, this time to the day I realized I was dead...

When I found myself floating above the city, my hand instantly went to my neck. There were no scars there that I could feel, but if I hadn't killed myself, what had happened? I then remembered the fight I had with the son of a bitch that lived next door to me and shook my head.

"Woulda been nice to take that asshole with me," I muttered. "For that little girl's sake at least." Suddenly, I heard a sound behind me, much like someone clearing their throat. I tuned around to see a girl, who didn't look much older than myself, with blue hair, wearing a pink kimono, and riding on some sort of brown stick thing.

"In a way, Kaira," she said. "You are taking him with you- the idiot is now sitting on death row for your murder, leaving his wife and child safe from his wrath." I smiled, and gave a thankful sigh.

"Thank God," I said, then focused my attention back to the girl. "Hey, who are you? And how do you know my name? And how do you know what happened? And..."

"Please, Kaira!" she exclaimed. "One question at a time!" She giggled for a moment before continuing. "My name is Botan. I know who you are and what happened to you because I am also known as the Grim Reaper." I was surprised to say the least, but merely nodded.

"Well, I didn't expect the Grim Reaper to be so nice, but I guess like life, death has it's surprises." Now, Botan looked surprised. "What?"

"You're taking this a lot better than your cousin did- he completely freaked out when I told him I was the Grim Reaper..." I gasped in horror. I only had one cousin, so I knew exactly who she was talking about.

"Yusuke's dead?" I asked, a tear falling down my cheek. "Why didn't someone tell me? How did it happen? Is Aunt Atsuko okay? And Kayko, she must be crushed..."

"Whoa!" said Botan. "You're doing the rapid fire questions again! Yusuke _was_ dead- he's now alive and kicking... literally." I wiped my eyes. "And Koenma thought you wouldn't care- I hope he's watching just so he can see how wrong he was."

"But... how?" I asked. "How is he alive?" Botan smiled.

"The same way you're going to get your life back- by accepting the same task Yusuke did." I raised my eyebrows. "Well, not exactly the same task," Botan continued. "Lord Koenma doesn't want to risk you being eaten by a spirit animal, especially with something of this importance." I still looked confused, prompting Botan to ask what was wrong.

"What could be so important that you would bring me back to life?" Botan smiled.

"You're cousin's life- Yusuke is now what we call a Spirit Detective- he tracks down stray demons and puts them where they belong. Lord Koenma wants you to keep Yusuke's partner from killing him. That and with the next case he'll be getting, he'll need all the help he can get." My eyebrows raised once again.

"What kind of a case?"

"So what do you think, cousin?" Back in the present, I looked at my cousin and smiled. I could tell he was really confused- although we hadn't seen each other in ten years, didn't mean we didn't talk. The two of us had exchanged letters for the longest time, even if those from Yusuke were few and far between, and in a good deal of the ones I sent, I had begged him not to kill himself. I was sure he was going to comment on that, until he shot me a look; one that said "We'll discuss this later." He then looked at Botan.

"What is this case she's talking about?" he asked. "And how can it be so dangerous that I'd need 'all the help I can get'?"

**Hi all, Kaira again! Well, Yusuke doesn't seem to be fazed by the way I became a Spirit Detective, nor by the prospect of a new case... no matter how dangerous. But is that just a way of waiting until later to chew me out? And what is this new case? We'll find out next time on Yu-Yu Hakusho!**


	3. The Case

"His name is Hitukeri Batosei," said Botan, showing Yusuke, Kuwabara and I a picture of a demon in his human form- long black hair, violet colored eyes, light skin.

"He's kinda cute," I commented, causing my companions to groan. "What? All I said was he's kinda cute- I realize he's a bad guy and his demon form is probably the grossest thing I've ever seen, but God, I can dream, can't I? Besides, it sounds like I don't have a thing to worry about." Yusuke gave me a questioning look.

"What do you mean you have nothing to worry about?" he asked. I looked over at him and smiled.

"'Hitukeri Batosei' means "manslayer-" if you haven't noticed, I don't exactly qualify for that." Kuwabara's jaw dropped.

"How..." he stuttered. "H-How did you know what that means?" My smile widened.

"Simple- I watch cartoons. (Anime style fall and sweat drop from my companions) Hitukeri Batosei is the nickname of a guy off of 'Rouroni Kenshin.'"

"Anyway," said Botan. "Batosei is a shape-shifter vampire- he uses his powers to transform into whatever form he deems necessary to obtain his victims, which he turns into vampires as well. And you're right about one thing, Kaira- he doesn't see to go after women all that much... actually, there's only been one case where he's turned a woman vampire."

"When was that?" asked Yusuke. Botan bit her lip a moment before answering.

"It was about a century ago," she replied. "When he wanted to take a wife. He found the woman he wanted and turned her vampire." I raised an eyebrow.

"Did this woman go vampire willingly, or did he force her?" When Botan said she was forced, I shook my head. "That hardly seems the way to pursue someone you love," I commented. "Unless he didn't really love her... what happened to her? Is she still alive?"

"She died about thirty-six years ago," said Botan. "Killed by the last Spirit Detective of earth, who was in turn killed by Batosei. But, you see Kaira, it doesn't matter if the woman loved Batosei- the only reason he turned her was because she was the reincarnation of his love, a vampiress named Tsuki, who was also killed by a Spirit Detective. Every time she is killed though, her spirit is reincarnated into a human, which takes about twenty years after her death, and can only be released by Batosei turning that human into a vampire." I rolled my eyes.

"Great," I muttered as a put a hand on my hip and tilted my head to the side. "Get me a stake and a cross and call me 'Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.'" Yusuke tried to hold in laugh, but couldn't quite do it, as was the same with Kuwabara. As the two of them burst out laughing, Botan managed to hold in the laugh but had trouble holding back a smile as she tried to look angry.

"This is no laughing matter, Kaira!" she told me. "That reincarnation could be any girl born in the year 1986- twenty years after Tsuki's death."

"Keh," I scoffed. "I take it Hitukeri Batosei likes 'em young? Being born in 1986, the girl would only be sixteen-years-old."

"She'd be our age." I looked over at my cousin when he said that, smiled and shook my head. One of life's unexplained miracles- or something- was that Yusuke and I had been born on the same day at the exact same time. So if anyone would know about my age, it would be Yusuke.

"Excellent observation, eagle eyes." I replied, with my grin widening... until I realized exactly what my cousin was getting at. I looked at the Grim Reaper- a look of guilt covered her face. I took a deep breath.

"Botan," I asked, as calmly as I possibly could. "Is there a part of the job description you neglected to tell me? LIKE THE PART ABOUT ME BEING A REINCARNATED VAMPIRESS?" (Sweat drop from Botan)

Yusuke had never seen me so angry before. If he'd known I would react this way, he would have waited to tell me of his suspicions.

"That's it, isn't it?" I continued. "The only reason you want me here is to be bait for this Hitukeri Batosei!" Anger flared deep within side of me- on the outside, my spirit energy glowed a bright orange, completely surrounding my body. "I aughta..."

"Calm down, Urameshi!" My spirit energy instantly toned down, as I searched the room for the owner of the strange voice. "Down here." I looked down at my feet.

"Ah!" I exclaimed. "What's a toddler doing her?" The toddler let out, what I can only describe as a growl.

"I'm not a toddler!" he yelled. "I'm Lord Koenma, and I was here to apologize to you."

"Apologize?" asked Kuwabara. "For what?" Koenma looked up at him.

"For not telling her about Tsuki," came the reply. "I told Botan not to tell Kaira about the vampiress because I feared she wouldn't accept the mission. Now that she's called me a toddler..." I began to laugh.

"Are you kidding?" I asked. "If you would have told me, I'd have been ready in a heartbeat! The only reason I reacted the way I did was because I don't like surprises." I looked down at Koenma. "And as for the toddler bit- well, like I said, I don't like surprises. Don't sneak up on me like that anymore. Okay?" Koenma nodded.

"Deal... so you will continue with the case?" I nodded eagerly.

"Of course! You actually think I'd miss the chance to hang out with my cousin again? Besides, if I left, I'd miss the chance to use the spirit weapon Botan showed me!" Yusuke shot me a confused look.

"What spirit weapon?" he asked. "Do you have a Spirit Gun or something?" I grinned and gestured for them to follow me outside. I led them up to the roof where I pointed to a billboard on the other side of the roof.

"Pick a target." Yusuke gave me a blank stare, then pointed at a person on the sign- one who had their head sticking up above the rest of the sign. I smiled- easy. My companions looked on as I channeled my spirit energy into my hands. Suddenly, an orange bow formed in my left hand as I pulled back an arrow with my right. "Spirit Bow!"

I released the arrow and it flew swiftly towards the billboard, hitting the target right between the eyes... before fully taking it's head off. Yusuke whistled, Kuwabara just stared and Botan and Koenma smiled. I looked back at my cousin and smiled.

"How'd ya like that, Urameshi?"

**Hello out there! Botan here- well it would seem that Kaira has impressed her cousin and Kuwabara with her Spirit Bow, but will it be enough to take down Hitukeri Batosei? And what will happen when Kaira meets Hiei and Kurama? What sort of sparks will fly between the many hundred-year-old youko and the lady Urameshi? Find out next time on Yu-Yu Hakusho!**


	4. Kaira's Clash

"Kaira? Kaira is that really you?" Those were the first words to leave my Aunt Atsuko's mouth as she rushed over to my side and wrapped me in a tight hug. It was a welcomed gesture, but after I few moments I tapped her on the shoulder- I couldn't breathe and was turning a shade of purple. "Oh Kaira," she said. "I'm so sorry! It's just that after I heard about your dad..."

"Wait a second!" yelled Yusuke. "You knew about Uncle Rick and you never even told me? Why not?" Atsuko gave Yusuke a guilty look.

"I'm sorry, Yusuke," she said. "But Kaira disappeared after Rick's death and I knew how close you two were... I didn't want you to go after her and find her dead- I knew it would break your heart." There was something Yusuke wasn't used to- his mom was trying to protect him? That was new. He was about to comment, when I cut in.

"Forgive me, Aunt Atsuko," I said. "I needed some time to cope with what had happened- so I did some traveling to collect my thoughts..."

"And she's come home now," said Yusuke, flashing me a smile. "Isn't that right, Kay?" Well, apparently lying to his mother wasn't anything new for Yusuke. I returned his smile and gave a nod.

"If you and your mother will have me..."

"Of course we'll have you!" cried Atsuko. "Turn away my best friend's daughter? Never!" I smile widened. I had almost forgotten how close Aunt Atsuko had been with my mother, Sarafu. "Come along, Kaira- I'll show you to your room."

About an hour later I had finally escaped my Aunt's grasp and retreated to the rooftop. High places had always been a place of sanctuary for Yusuke and I, the higher the better. And as I expected, Yusuke was right there waiting for me, sitting on the ledge as he had always done. I closed the door that led to the stairs behind me and walked over to him. He looked at me shook his head.

"You remember the last time we did this, Kay?" he asked me, a very sly smile curling his lips.

"Remember?" I asked. "Yusuke, how could I forget?" As he chuckled to his little heart's content, I thought back to the last time I saw Yusuke and Aunt Atsuko, six years ago. Dad and I lived closer to the two of them, meaning Yusuke and I saw each other everyday. My hair was much longer then, but Yusuke hadn't changed a bit.

"Yusuke," I said as calmly as I could manage. "There's five of them and two of us... and it doesn't help matters any that the smallest guy is twice my size." Back then, Yusuke and I didn't pick fights at random- they usually picked us. Seriously, Yusuke and I would be walking along, minding our own business when someone would pop out at us, demanding a fight- our reputation of getting out of these sort of scraps had greatly surpassed us, which meant people older than us would come looking for a fight. These particular fellows, who were persistent enough to chase us to the top of a ten story building, were five or so years our senior. Me and my longhaired self should have been scared out of my mind- instead, I was grinning my head off and chuckling under my breath. Yusuke looked over at me and smiled.

"I know," he replied. "The odds are way against them." One of the guys, clearly the leader, let out a low growl.

"Get 'em!" Yusuke and I stood our ground as they charged at us- their biggest mistake was taking one at a time- you know, one would go down and another would step up. If they would have jumped us all at once, they might have lasted longer. But, as there always seems to be, one thing went wrong. I made a rookie mistake of letting myself become trapped between the guy I was fighting and the edge of the roof. Don't get me wrong, I was holding my own very well... until I saw Yusuke taken down by a lucky shot.

"Yusuke!" I was so worried about him, I forgot what I was doing, only to have the guy I was sparing with landed a shot on me, not only knocking me backwards, but off of the roof as well. Yusuke looked up just as I let out a second cry and fell out of sight.

"KAIRA!" As soon as our aggressors heard Yusuke call my name and saw what had happened, they spilt as fast as they possibly could and Yusuke rushed to where he had seen me fall off, expecting to see me characterized as a human pancake on the sidewalk below. Instead he saw me using my left hand to hang onto a small ledge about a yard below the top of the roof. I looked up at him, my confidant glower had been replaced with one of complete anger.

"What the hell are you waiting for?!" I yelled. "Get me the fuck out of here, Yusuke- now!" Yusuke gave me a puzzled look but then reached his arm out.

"Come on Kay," he said, urgently. "Take my hand, quick!" I slowly reached my right hand up and managed to take Yusuke's. He smiled. "Thata girl."

He then began to pull me and got me back onto the roof, just as the police showed up. We gave them our statements and after about an hour, they left us alone. The two of us just sat there, staring out over the city.

"How'd you do that, Kay?" he asked me. I looked over at him, a confused expression on my scratched face, which had come as a result of slamming my face against the side of the building. My left wrist was slightly sprained, but that was nothing to the cussing out I would receive from my father when I got home.

"Do what?" I replied finally. Yusuke shook his head.

"It's probably about a one in a million chance that you grabbed that ledge- if you hadn't, you wouldn't be talking to me right now. How did you pull that off?" I let out a sigh and shook my head.

"Cuz," I said. "I haven't got the slightest idea of how I did that. All I can say is that someone up there must really like me." I let out a soft chuckle and looked up at the sky. "Thanks, Mom."

"Yeah, that was a pretty good time," said Yusuke, shaking me from my memory. I looked at him and rolled my eyes.

"A pretty good time?!" I cried. "Man, that was the fuckin' rush of my life- I was dangling by one hand, ten stories in the air! There ain't a feeling in the world that can compare to that."

"Too bad it wasn't your cousin- with his luck, he may have died." I instantly spun around, ready to cuss out whoever just made that statement. I found myself looking at two boys, around my and Yusuke's age- one was a short boy with spiky black hair and dark purple eyes... and the icy glare he was sporting kinda gave me the creeps. But the one who really caught my attention was his companion- his fiery red hair was just below his shoulders and his neon green eyes took my breath away. I could feel my heart beating a mile a minute as his eyes locked with mine and he gave me a smile... Lord, what a smile.

"Hello," he said. "My name is Kurama- you must be Kaira." Due to a lack of the ability to speak, I just nodded. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," I said softly. The other boy just stood there, staring at me. "What are you lookin' at?"

"Ignore him Kay," Yusuke told me. "That's just Hiei- he doesn't like me very much. I kinda ruined his plans for world domination." I looked at Yusuke and smiled.

"Thanks for the explanation," I said. "But I asked Hiei a question." My gaze shifted back to Hiei. "What were you lookin' at?"

"Nothing," he replied. "Absolutely nothing..." I figured he would leave it at that, but he had something else in mind. "I just never thought that I'd see two utterly useless people in one place." My eyes narrowed.

"Boy, are you gonna regret that." Hiei never knew what hit him at first. Seconds later, he realized that I was beating the living hell out of him. Suddenly, I launched him up into the air. "Spirit Bow!" I shot an arrow right at his right shoulder, which ended up pinning him up against the same billboard I had used as target practice earlier that night, trapping Hiei. He looked at me and scowled.

"Why you little bitch..." I fired another arrow, piercing his left shoulder. My eyes narrowed even more.

"Listen up, Hiei," I said. "Because I'm only gonna say this once. My name is Kaira- it means "she who fights without fear." So if you ever call me bitch again, I'll personally show you how fearless I can get." I then started to walk back inside.

"Are you just gonna leave me here?" yelled Hiei. I stopped, turned around and flashed him a smile.

"You're damn right I am." With that, I continued to walk back inside. Yusuke shook his head and looked at Hiei.

"You're lucky," he said. "You managed to catch her in a good mood." He then turned to Kurama, who was staring at the doorway I had just departed through. "Hey, what are you two doing here? Botan just got through telling me that they brought in Kaira because you two had cases of your own." Kurama was still staring at the door, causing Yusuke to wave his hand in front of his eyes. "Hello? Anyone in there?" Kurama suddenly shook his head.

"Hmm?" he asked. "Oh, sorry, Yusuke- did you say something?"

"I was asking why you and Hiei were here."

"Helping you with Kaira- Koenma regrets starting her on such a dangerous case and thought we might be of some help." He then looked back at the door. "But after what I just saw, I think she'll do just fine."

"Excuse me!" yelled an irritated Hiei. "Would one of you mind getting me down from here so I can go kick that bitch's ass?" Yusuke shot him an angered look.

"You lay a hand on my cousin and I'll tear you limb from limb. Remember that."

Meanwhile, on a rooftop across the street, a black haired, violet eyed, light skinned man was watching the proceedings very carefully. He had began to smile when he saw my stunt with Hiei, even more so when I laid out my threat.

"Well, Tsuki," he said. "It would seem that you have chosen a real fighter this time." He began to chuckle. "Just as well- the chase is half the fun."


	5. School House Rock

"I'm not wearing that and you can't make me." Aunt Atsuko gave me an frustrated look when I said that. I had just received my school uniform- a blue and gold sailor girl outfit- and was less than thrilled with it. "No way," I continued, arms crossed in front of me. "I wouldn't be caught dead in that preppy piss rag and there is no way you're gonna change my mind." I heard a sly laughter coming from my doorway- Yusuke was there watching, a plastic bag in his hand. "You wanna make something of it, Yusuke?" He shook his head.

"Of course not," he replied, tossing me the bag that was in his hand. "If I were you I wouldn't wear that either- even if I was a girl." I shot him a confused look before opening the bag... and grinned my head off once I saw what I was inside. He had gotten me a boy's uniform- like his, but a darker green. "I talked to Mr. Takanaka- he told me it was rather a unusual request, but he'd allow it... if I promised to get my grades up. I told him my cousin was a genius, so that wouldn't be a problem." I was ecstatic- I wouldn't have to wear that stupid looking outfit! I rushed over to him and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Thank you, Yusuke! You're the best!" Yusuke stood there, acting like my hug didn't phase him at all- but I could tell that he had his stupid grin on his face, just like he always did. My cousin and I were like the two halves of a yin-yang, except instead of good and evil it was love and anger. I was the yin: full of love, but anger arose when it was needed, and greatly overpowered the love. Yusuke was the yang: made up of anger but the love he had could take over easily. A perfect team. "Wait a minute," I said after a moment. "You told him what?" Yusuke smiled.

"Well," he said. "Compared to me you are a genius- your seventy average beats my sixty hands down." I groaned, but on the inside, I was grinning- my seventy had become an eighty, but I wasn't gonna tell him that.

I took a deep breath as I looked at the school I would be going to and shook my head. It couldn't get much worse than this, now could it?

"Hey, Urameshi!" called a voice. "Who's your new friend? Another punk?" Yusuke looked ready to drill holes in the person's skull, cuing me to turn around and flash a heartbreaking smile. Apparently, they didn't notice the pearl drop earrings I was wearing, because they were surprised as hell when they saw that I was a girl.

"Hello," I said. "I don't believe we've met- I'm Kaira Urameshi. It's a pleasure to meet you." I turned to Yusuke. "Come on, Yusuke- it's my first day and I don't want to be late." With that, I turned and walked away with Yusuke at my heels. After we had gotten out of earshot, Yusuke had one simple question to ask me.

"What the hell was that all about?!" I looked at him, my brown eyes flashing rapidly with excitement.

"An old tactic I learned," I said. "Let everyone think you're a sweet and innocent pushover..."

"So the truth whacks them upside the head when it comes out," finished a familiar voice. I turned around- Botan was there, wearing the exact same outfit I said I wouldn't be caught dead in. But the voice hadn't been hers. It had come from the one standing behind her- a pair of eyes I hadn't looked into in a long time.

"Kayko?" The girl nodded and walked towards me. As she did so, my mind went back to the last time I saw her- when I had saved her life.

It's amazing how one wrong turn can lead a person into a mess of trouble. Before my Dad and I moved to another town, Kayko and I had been walking home from school when we got separated in a large crowd. Kayko was so mixed up and became so scared that she finally ducked into an alleyway hoping I would find her soon. Unfortunately for her, the alleyway contained two men- bank robbers who were in the middle of counting their loot. When they spotted Kayko, she turned around and began to run, only to slam into one of the bad guys.

"Please," ten-year-old Kayko pleaded as she slowly backed away. "Please, just leave me alone." The men began to chuckle as one grabbed Kayko by the arm.

"Sure, we'll leave you alone," he said. "Alone at the bottom of a river." Complete fear covered Kayko's face... just as a voice called her name. She looked towards the front of the alley to see me running towards her.

"Kayko!" I cried, wrapping my arms around her before whispering "Play along." I released her from my embrace, then looked at the man who had her by the arm. "Thank you so much for finding her! But we gotta go now, or my Dad'll be worried." I took Kayko's hand and started to walk out the alleyway when the man stepped in our way. "Mister, we really got to go!" He chuckled.

"You two aren't going anywhere, girly," he replied. "Your little friend has seen too much and now so have you." He then pulled out a gun and aimed it at my head, causing my eyes to narrow. Suddenly, my foot came up and knocked the gun out of his hand. I then went at him with all I had.

"What part..." Punch. "Of we have to go...." Another punch, followed by a kick. "Do you not seem..." Punch, kick, uppercut. "To comprehend?" The man hit the ground with a thud and stayed there, cuing me to look at his companions. "Who wants to go next?" The guys looked at each other then rushed out of the alley... right into the arms of the police.

"Keep her away from us!" they cried. "Send us to jail, just don't let her near us!" One of the officers looked at me, smiled and shook his head.

"Killer Kaira Urameshi," he said. "What am I going to do with you?" I smiled back- this officer, Tim Gentry by name, always managed to show up whenever I got myself in or out of trouble.

"I don't know, Tim- but you could start by not telling my dad."

I shook my head and looked at Kayko- she had changed a lot in six years. Her pig tails were gone, thanks to her shortened hair, but her smile was just as friendly as ever.

"You remembered, eh?" I asked her. She nodded again as she put a hand on my shoulder.

"How could I forget Killer Kaira?" Kayko asked me with a chuckle. I grinned.

"I really hate that name, Kayko," I said. "Who ever made it up, doesn't really know me at all." Suddenly, the school bell rang, signaling the start of the day. "Shimatta! Yusuke, I told you I didn't want to be late!"

So I ended up with detention on my first day of school and mentally cussed out Yusuke the entire time- he had managed to escape punishment solely because his teachers were sick of giving it to him: he never showed up! I, on the other hand, accepted my punishment and sat with Mr. Takanaka for an hour after school. At least it gave me a peaceful place to finish my homework. Although I never looked up to see him, I could feel Takanaka's eyes on me. I could always sense things like that- people watching me, following me, things that may happen... it took some getting used to, but it happened.

"Is there something wrong, sir?" I asked him, my eyes not leaving my math problem. A shocked expression covered his face. "You've been watching me and my every mood for the past fifty-seven minutes. Whatever it is, please feel free to get it off your chest." After a moment, I looked up at him- he was still staring at me, confused. "Well?"

"I'm sorry," he said. "But from stories I've heard, I wasn't expecting a girl like you." I tilted my head to the side, looking just as confused as he. "You see, I've heard about two very different Kaira Urameshi's: one who is smart, caring and wouldn't hurt a fly. The other is a terrible student, ruthless and willing to pick a fight with anyone who crosses her path. I just want to know which one is real?" As I packed up my things, I gave a light chuckle.

"Well, Mr. Takanaka," I said. "The real one is a little bit of both." I smiled at his confused expression. "You see, I can hold an eighty, eighty-five average if I put my mind to it and I care for my family and friends very much. But, do anything to hurt those people and I will become ruthless and I'll pick a fight with anyone who stands in my way." Where I expected more surprise, I received understanding. He simply nodded and dismissed me. When I got to my locker, I found Yusuke and Botan there waiting for me, Yusuke with his sly smile on his face. I shook my head- he couldn't join me in detention, but he'd wait an hour by my locker... who was I kidding- he probably went and picked a fight with Kuwabara and got to my locker just before I did.

"So, how'd it go?" asked Botan, in her usual chipper voice. I smiled.

"I rather like that Mr. Takanaka," I told them. "I mean, he's pretty cool, for a teacher. I can see myself making an effort to stay awake for his classes." I slipped my finished homework into my locker and shut it, before turning to Yusuke. "Ready to go?" He merely nodded and led the way out, past the detention room I had just spent the last hour in. As we walked past, I stopped- voices inside caused me to do so. Someone was being beat up.

"Kaira?" asked Yusuke. "What's wrong?" I held up my hand for him to shut up and looked through the window- Mr. Takanaka was on the floor, being assaulted by a tough looking boy I had seen around school.

"I told you what would happen if you flunked me, Takanaka," he said. "But it would seem that I have to show you first hand." He drove his foot into Mr. Takanaka's stomach... and I calmly let out an angered sigh.

"Yusuke, Botan," I said. "Please go call a paramedic for Mr. Takanaka." I placed my hand on the door knob. "I'll be out momentarily." I stepped inside the room, and looked at the glaring faces around me.

"Butt out, girly," the boy said. "This don't concern you." I smiled as I continued to make my way over to him.

"On the contrary," I told him. "I happen to like this teacher- he's probably the only one so far. Either way, if you like the taste of tile, feel free to try and kick him once more." The boy let out a 'keh' and raised his foot. Seconds later, he found himself facedown on the floor. He looked up at me, leaning against the chalk board, a sly smile on my face. "I warned you, Baka."

His head then fell back to the floor, indicating that he was unconscious, and I rushed to Mr. Takanaka's side. The poor man was pretty beat up- a cut on his bottom lip, bruises covering his cheeks- his jaw was most likely broken- and he was barely breathing.

"Hang on, Mr. Takanaka," I whispered, wiping the blood off his face. "Help will be here soon." The teacher looked up at me and gave a soft, but pained smile.

"Thank you, Urameshi."

**Hello there! Kaira again- well, it seems I've saved a teacher's life which should do great things for my image (yeah, right) and I run into old friend in the police force! But who's this following me around? Is it Batosei, looking to regain his love, or Hiei, looking for revenge? We'll find out next time on Yu-Yu Hakusho!**


	6. Followed

"Tim?" I cried. "Tim Gentry?" While I was being checked for injuries (Even though I told the bakas that I was perfectly fine) and Yusuke and Botan were giving their statements, I noticed that I recognized one of the uniformed cops. The officer in question turned around and smiled.

"Well, I'll be damned," he said, walking over to me. "Killer Kaira Urameshi- what the hell are you doing here?" I giggled.

"What am I doing every other time you see me?" I took a good look at him. "Well, take a look at you! Promoted and everything! Sergeant Tim Gentry!" I shook my head. "At least one of us did something with our life." Tim let out a chuckle.

"You've still got time, Kaira. Now how about lettin' me in on what happened." I shook my head.

"Some punk thought he could score some good grades by beatin' up a teacher," I said. "And if I hadn't happened along, he might have succeeded." My smile turned to worry. "Is Mr. Takanaka gonna be okay?" Tim put a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"Don't you worry, kid," he replied. "He's got a couple of busted ribs but he'll be back at school in no time."

"Good- I hate substitutes."

Moments later, Botan, Yusuke and I were walking home. Aunt Atsuko had been notified about our lateness and was rather pleased that I had stood up for a teacher. She had also said something about my goodness rubbing off on her son. Yusuke hadn't spoken to me since... not directly anyway- he didn't mumble a few choice words under his breath which I think were directed towards me. Baita, Japanese for bitch, was one of them. And he was walking faster than usual- not that I had any trouble keeping up with him, mind you. But then, I suddenly stopped. Botan, who had been rushing to catch up with Yusuke stopped as well and gave me a questioning look.

"What's wrong, Kaira?" she asked. I shook my head, then looked up at Yusuke, indicating that I wanted him to slow down before revealing why I had. Seconds later, as I had expected he would, Yusuke stopped, turned around and stared.

"What the hell are you two waiting for?" he yelled, walking back towards us. "Easter, Christmas or what?" I smiled as I brushed a strand of black hair off of my forehead.

"We're waiting," I said in a loud voice, "for whoever has been following us since we left the school. Now come out and make yourself known." 

Now, my feelings told me when someone was watching me, but they never told me who. While I was expecting Hiei or the infamous Hitukeri Batosei, I received Kurama.

"Kurama?" I asked, rather dumbly. I really wasn't expecting him, that was so... but where the hell was this nervousness coming from? I had faced guys twice my size without breaking a sweat, but looking into the green eyes of Kurama... made my knees go weak. Then there was that smile and the way he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head as he looked at me.

"I am sorry, Kaira," he said softly as his hand went to his pocket. "I didn't mean to startle you, but I wanted to give you this." His hand came out of his pocket to reveal a small green box, which he handed to me. Puzzled, I opened the box and looked inside. My jaw dropped.

"Oh, Kurama," I whispered. Inside was the most beautiful necklace I had ever see. It was a dragon- a golden dragon with red rubies for eyes- on a golden chain. In one of it's claws was a small, and I mean small, silver cross. As I gave him an astonished look, Kurama cracked a smile and nodded at my right arm.

"I noticed your tattoo when you, when you, um..." I could see he thought my handling of Hiei was rather humorous as he stumbled through his sentence and tried to hold back a chuckle. "When you met Hiei," he finished, finally. "And I guessed you had a thing for dragons, but probably not a highly religious person... I just thought that might help with Batosei." I smiled as I took the necklace out of the box and put it around my neck.

"It's beautiful, Kurama," I said. "Thank you. By the way, how is that partner of yours?" That did it- Yusuke, Kurama and Botan burst out laughing. "I take it he's still angry?"

"He's not too found, Kaira," said Kurama. "Actually, he's plotting yours and Yusuke's destruction as we speak." I chuckled.

"Man, what a baby. What, can't he get over the fact that a girl got the best of him? Pathetic."

"You didn't exactly take it easy on him, Kay," Yusuke told me. I shot him a glare.

"Then he shouldn't have made his biggest mistake his first one," I replied. "I can handle being called just about anything- Baita, punk, hussy... but one to many people have called me worthless and I'm sick of hearing it." I looked over at Kurama. "Thank you again, Kurama, but I should be getting home- Aunt Atsuko will be worried." With that, I turned and walked away. Yusuke looked after me in awe- he'd never known that about me. God, could that be why? He shook his head.

"I think I need to have a talk with my cousin."

I went right to my room when I returned home, telling Aunt Atsuko that I wasn't feeling very well and would just go to sleep. I needed time to think. I sat on my bed and fiddled with the dragon necklace I'd just been given. It was beautiful, the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. But the outburst I'd made after receiving it was one I wished I hadn't made. A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts.

"Go away," I said, although I knew that wasn't going to happen. Yusuke pushed the door open and walked inside. "Will ever listen to me?" He shook his head as he sat down beside me.

"What's wrong, Kay?" he asked. "What happened to you that would make you say something like that?" I took a deep breath and let it out as a sigh- there was no keeping things from that cousin of mine.

"Dad and I weren't on the greatest of terms when he died, Yusuke," I replied. "In fact, during the six years between Mom's death and his own, we barely spoke to each other... unless he was yelling at me of course, saying that I was a pathetic excuse for a daughter, I was completely worthless and if he had the chance he'd trade me in for a pet monkey. I wish I could say that this all started after Mom died, but it had been going on for years- Mom's death just made everything- the insults, the beatings... everything got worse." 

As I spoke, it took all the will power I had not to break down in tears. It took all Yusuke had not to take out his anger on a nearby wall. In my letters to him, I had told him things were perfectly fine and that Dad and I were getting alone great. When he held those letters, he felt a sorrow fill him but dismissed it. He know knew what had caused it.

"It wasn't Dad who allowed me to keep the tattoo on my arm, Yusuke," I continued. "He thought I'd had it removed after he lashed out at me about it one night... I merely used a shit-load of make-up to make it look like I had."

"But you cried when he passed away," said Yusuke. "You said so yourself." I nodded as I wiped away the tears before they could fall.

"I cried because I was alone... and most of those tears were ones of joy. He wouldn't be there to hurt me anymore. And when I tried to kill myself, the reason why I asked what my father would think was because I knew he would know he had won- I had killed myself to get away from him." That was it, I couldn't take it anymore. My emotions got the better of me as I broke down and started to cry. A few seconds later, I felt a pair of arms around me that held me close.

"It's all right, Kay-girl," said Yusuke. "You just go ahead and cry." And that's exactly what I did.

Meanwhile, outside my window there were three pairs of eyes looking in on the charade- two were looking for weaknesses while the other was there to find out why I had said what I did only minutes before. Hiei, Batosei and Kurama.

"That poor girl," Kurama said to himself. "She's been through so much..."

"Baka Baita," muttered Hiei. "If she's not careful, those emotions will be her downfall, I'm sure of it."

"So, I have to capture that one to get to her?" Batosei asked himself. "That shouldn't be to difficult..."

**Hey all, Yusuke here. So I've found out what's been buggin' that cousin of mine although I guess I rather I hadn't... anyway, with the weekend finally here Kay and I, along with Kuwabara, Hiei (this is gonna be fun...), Botan and Kurama, can finally get down to some serious demon hunting. But why does Kay's face turn so red whenever Kurama talks to her? She can't be fallin' for that old fox, can she? Well find out next time on Yu-Yu Hakusho!**


	7. No Worries

"Kay? Come on, Kay-girl wake up, please?" I let out a groan as my hand went to the back of my head. What was a bandage doing there? 

"Leave that alone," a voice told me. "You've got a bad cut there and it won't take much to get it bleeding again. Not to mention that beautiful black eye you're sporting." I slowly opened my eyes and scanned the room- first I noticed that I was on the floor, then the blurred faces around me.

"Botan? Yusuke?" Both gave a sigh of relief. "What's going on?"

"We could ask you the same question," said Yusuke. "Voices coming from in here woke me about around three o'clock this morning. I tried to come in but the door was locked!" I looked over and noticed that my door was now on the floor- he must have really wanted to get inside. "When I got in, you were on the floor totally out of it, with blood all over the floor!"

"Then he called me," said Botan. "And I was here in a flash." I sat up and then got a good look at myself in a mirror that was on the other side of the room. The left side of my face was completely black and blue. I shook my head.

"Oh God," I muttered. "How am I gonna explain this to Aunt Atsuko? She'll never believe I wasn't fighting with someone."

"She went out soon after I left your room," Yusuke told me. "And she's not home yet. We'll just tell her that you fell down the stairs or something- she'll be so hung over, she'll never know the difference." There was a pause. "What really happened, Kay?" As he asked that question, I asked myself the same thing... then, it all came together.

I hadn't fully woken up, but even in a state of sub-consciousness, I could tell there was someone in the room with me... and that someone wasn't friendly.

"Open your eyes, Kaira," whispered an unfamiliar voice in a seductive tone. "I know you're awake." My eyes opened and I saw him standing over me. Long black hair, violet eyes, light skin: Hitukeri Batosei. I shot up off the bed and was about to call for help (He's a vampire remember? Trust me, I'm not stupid enough to take him on with no weapons!) when he clapped a hand over my mouth and pushed me back down onto my pillow. "Now, now Kaira," he said. "We don't want to bring on your cousin's death sooner that we need to, now do we?" My eyes narrowed- if looks could kill... let's just say that Batosei would be deader than dead.

"Chikushoume!" I cried, his hand muffling my voice. "If you want me, just get it over with!" Batosei removed his hand from my mouth and allowed me to sit back up... only to backhand me across the face, knocking me into the wall next to my bed.

"I'd think twice before calling me a 'son of a bitch' again," he told me. I turned away from the wall, looked at him and smiled.

"Don't worry," I replied. "I've got better phrases lined up for you." Before I could do or say anything, he grabbed me by the neck and held me up against the wall. I could feel my breath weakening as I tried to get his hand away from my throat, but I knew he wasn't trying to kill me, at least not in this way. That would defeat his purpose. His eyes suddenly turned red as they locked with mine. He knew how much fear I had just by looking into my eyes- and the fact that it wasn't much made him even angrier.

"Watch what you say, Kaira. Especially if you want that cousin of yours to get through this case alive." I let out a 'keh.'

"You've got what you want right in the palm of your hand- why not just turn me now?" Batosei began to laugh.

"I take it Koenma hasn't told you- in order for me to bring back my love, I must turn you during a full moon." He looked out the window- the moon was in it's last quarter. "You have two days to live life as you know it. After that, I kill Kaira Urameshi and reborn my beloved Tsuki. Between now and then, I suggest you look after the ones you love."

"Kay!" called a voice, followed by someone banging on my bedroom door. "Kay, is everything all right?" Batosei smiled.

"It may be him, Kaira... or it could be someone else..." I let out a low growl type sound as my eyes narrowed once again.

"Kutabare, chikushoume!" The next thing I knew, I was flying across the room and slammed into a far wall, my head hitting a small shelf. Then, everything went black.

"You said "Fuck you, son of a bitch," to a vampire?!" cried Botan. "What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't thinking, Botan," I replied. "At least not about that..." I looked over at Yusuke. "I didn't want him to come after you or Aunt Atsuko... or anyone else."

"No worries, Kay," Yusuke told me. "He's not gonna touch me- we ain't gonna give him the chance." He smiled. "It's the weekend so tomorrow night, we go find him."

"We?" asked Botan. "You, Kaira and I are going after him?" Yusuke shook his head.

"There's more."

"Who, Kuwabara?" Suddenly I realized what he was getting at and smiled as well, a light giggle escaping my lips.

"Oh, this is gonna be fun."

I looked him dead in the eyes and smiled. Hiei just glared at me, still not over the fact that I had gotten the better of him during our last meeting.

"Damn it," thought Yusuke. "Koenma sent Kaira to keep the peace between me and Kuwabara- but who's gonna keep it between her and Hiei? I better do something before they kill each other."

"All right, guys," he said, aloud. "From what Botan has told me, Batosei hangs out in dark alleys, parks and night clubs... don't be getting any ideas, Kaira." My gaze, which had been transfixed on Hiei, slowly shifted to Yusuke and my smile widened.

"I've gone sober, cuz," I said. "I don't even like the taste anymore, so you ain't gonna have to worry about me."

"Either way," Kurama spoke up. "I feel that it's better if we all stick together... for more reasons than one." He then looked over at me and winked and felt my cheeks begin to turn red and no matter how hard I tried to stop it, my heart began to beat faster. And there was this feeling that I had never felt before...

"Get a hold of yourself, Urameshi!" I thought. "It's like you're in love or something!" I instantly shook that thought away. Kurama may have looked my age, maybe a year or so older, but Yusuke had told me how old he really was... but that wasn't the problem. A guy like him was way out of my league- he was above me.

"All right," I said. "Lets roll."

We walked the streets in the dead of night in complete silence. Each of us had a single weapon in our hand- a wooden stake- but as far as I was concerned, the greatest weapon I had was around my neck: the necklace from Kurama. Why do I think that? The night before, when Batosei had me by the neck, he touched the chain of my necklace and I saw him wince. I don't know if it was from the small cross the dragon held in his talons or what. But I did know that it had some sort of effect on Batosei, making it a wise choice not to take it off.

"This is pointless!" Kuwabara exclaimed, suddenly. "We're walking around here like a crazy mute cult or something! How's this gonna help us find Batosei?" I nodded and leaned up against a nearby wall.

"His ugliness has a point," I said with a chuckle, ignoring the death glare I received from Kuwabara. "Batosei knows I'll come looking for him, that's why he came to see me- to make sure I'd come looking for him." Kurama shot me a look.

"He came to see you?" he asked. I nodded and gestured to my bruised face- the one that Botan had told me could be hidden easily. I believe her exact words were "They don't call it Cover Girl for nothin'." Yeah, whatever... But back to the matter at hand.

"You think I got this from Hiei?" I asked, sarcastically. As Botan, Yusuke and Kuwabara roared with laughter, and Hiei's anger flared up, Kurama kept staring at me, with his eyes filling with concern... and a bit of hurt.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I shrugged my shoulders as the feeling crept over me again. I didn't tell him because I hadn't wanted to worry him. I just flashed him a smile.

"No worries, Kurama," I said. "Everything's gonna be... whoa!" While I was trying to reassure my friend, the wall behind me suddenly started to move. As I fell backwards, I reached out to grab whatever I could to hold myself up- I grabbed Hiei and ended up pulling him back with me.

"Kay!" yelled Yusuke, running towards the wall. But by the time he had gotten there, the wall had closed up again. Yusuke let out an angered yell and slammed his fist against the wall. "No worries, she said. Yeah, right."

**Hello everyone, Botan here. All right, it would seem that Batosei's two day warning was just a ruse to draw out Kaira, but now he's caught Hiei as well! It's obvious that there's no love lost between these two, but when Kaira gets injured, will they be able to pull together to fight off a group of vampires? We'll find out next time on Yu-Yu Hakusho!**


	8. Worst of Enemies, Best of Partners

It felt like we'd fallen forever. When we finally hit bottom, I landed on my left arm, which landed on a large rock that was sticking out of the dirt floor and heard a rather disturbing sound- I heard it crack, followed by me letting out a painful cry. 

"What's wrong?" asked an annoyed voice. I looked around- all I could see was a few large boxes, the floor, no ceiling, meaning we had fallen down a hole... and then I saw Hiei's angered face staring at me from where he was sitting on the other side of the room. I let out a breathy laugh and shook my head.

"Out of all the people I had to disappear with," I said. "It had to be you." Hiei muttered something about a Baka Baita before repeating his question. "My arm- I think it's broken." I sat up slowly, then took a look at my arm. As far as I knew, the bone wasn't supposed to be sticking out of my skin like that. It was the most disgusting thing I'd ever seen and had to look away before I tossed my cookies. Hiei started to laugh.

"A little squeamish, are we Human?" he asked, walking over to me. "A little broken arm isn't anything to..." He then noticed the extent of my 'little broken arm.' "Oh."

"Yeah, oh- beautiful, ain't it?" He sat down next to me and carefully took hold of my arm and set it on his lap. I still winced in pain, but I didn't try to fight him. "Look, Hiei," I said, the pain I was in characterized in my voice. "I know you want your revenge, but now's not a good time. Give me a couple of weeks and if I'm still alive, maybe you and I could set up a play date or something." Hiei rolled his eyes.

"Keh- I'm not trying to hurt you, Urameshi." Suddenly, he grabbed my arm at my wrist and above my elbow, where the bone was sticking out and pulled. He managed to straighten my broken arm, pulling the bone back through the skin and I let out an ear piercing scream.

"**OW!**" I yelled. "**SON OF A BITCH, YOU COULDA FOOLED ME!**" Hiei ignored my outburst, once again muttering cuss words, as he ripped a piece of cloth off of his coat. Then, he took the wooden stake he'd been given, laid it on my arm and wrapped the cloth around it.

"There," he said. "That should keep it straight for now- just try not to bump it too much." The pain had died down, causing me to look up and flash him a grin.

"Thank you," I replied, getting up off the ground.

"But don't think this changes things, Urameshi. As soon as this is over, you and I will have to find out who's best." I nodded.

"All right- but what do we do until then?"

"Damn it!" yelled Yusuke, pounding on the wall he'd last seen me leaning against. "Kay! Kay, can you hear me? KAIRA?!"

"It's no good, Urameshi," said Kuwabara. "That wall has to be at least a foot thick- there's no way she could hear you through that." Yusuke shot him an angered look.

"Well I don't know unless I try!" As he pounded on the door, calling my name, Kurama and Botan were searching the wall for a door or some other way inside. Botan noticed that the fox demon was quieter than normal, causing her to wonder what was wrong.

"Kurama?" she asked. "Is everything all right?" He was silent, but after a moment, he shook his head.

"I'm not worried about Hiei harming her," he said. "He won't do that as long as he needs to work with her. But I am worried of what might happen if Batosei finds her before we do. He may not be able to turn her immediately, but..." He paused. "But, there are other ways he can hurt her." Botan nodded, an understanding smile curling her lips.

"You like her, don't you?" Kurama gave Botan a surprised look and tried to stutter his way through a denial... then he gave up.

"I've never felt this way about someone before, Botan," he told her. "When I learned love from my mother, it was a new feeling for me that's true, but this... this is something completely different."

"It's all right, Kurama," said Botan. "You've just fallen in love- and by the way she looks at you, I think she feels the same."

"Hey you guys!" yelled Yusuke. "We found a door! Get over here!" Botan shook her head and gave a soft laugh.

"Just don't break her heart- I'd hate to be you if Yusuke found out."

"Hiei," I said. "With all due respect, I don't think that's going to help us- not with vampires anyway." Hiei and I had found a hallway leading out of the hole and it lead to a group of rather angry vampires... all of which who looked like they we're ready to rip our heads off. Hiei had instantly drawn his sword, and was rather angered when I said it probably wouldn't help us.

"What do you suppose we do then?" he asked. I tossed him the stake that I had brought with me and raised my left arm.

"I can still fire my Spirit Bow, even with my busted arm. I pin 'em, you stake 'em." I looked at him and couldn't believe what I was seeing- Hiei was actually smiling.

"Let's get it over with." I nodded and began firing Spirit Arrows at the vampires. With incredible speed, Hiei drove a steak through each vampire mere seconds after they were pinned to the wall. Within moments, a mural of dead vampires cover the walls. I grinned- Hiei and I actually worked well together.

"Ah- a masterpiece," I said with a chuckle. "I shall call it 'Death by Spirit and Stake.'" I waited for Hiei's annoyed comment, but it never came. "Hiei?" I turned around, only to see him lying on the ground. "Hiei!" I rushed to him, knelt at his side and checked his pulse. He was alive, merely unconscious, but there was no trace of what had made him that way. Suddenly, I felt the presence of someone standing behind me. I started to turn around, but before I could an arm snaked it's way around my neck, followed by a sweet smelling cloth covered my mouth- chloroform. Once I realized what was going on, I tried to hold my breath but had realized too late. Seconds later, I blacked out.

"Hiei?" yelled a voice. "Damn it, you better be alive!" Hiei shook his head and opened his eyes. He saw Yusuke staring at him, an infuriated look on his face. "What happened?" he asked. "Where's Kay?" Hiei looked surprised.

"She's gone?" The girl had just been there, before someone knocked him over the head... when ever that was.

"Yes she's gone!" Yusuke yelled, raising his fist. "I swear to God, if you did anything to her." Kurama grabbed his hand in mid air.

"Hiei has done nothing," he said. "Look." He nodded his head towards the only wall not covered with vampires. Written in a blood red color was a short note: "She's mine."

**Kuwabara here- I know I don't usually do this, but both Urameshi's are rather preoccupied at the moment. Anyway, I've seen some pretty sick things in my life, but they don't compare to what Batosei does to Kaira- I don't know how she survived. What am I talking about? Find out next time on Yu-Yu Hakusho!**


	9. The Space Between

I hurt like hell. It was my left arm mostly, but the rest of me felt like it'd been used as a punching bag- I wouldn't have put it past anyone. I was dizzy as well, most likely from the chloroform. I slowly opened my eyes and for some reason the first place I looked was down. I then discovered that my attire had changed vastly. It had gone from my blue jeans, t-shirt and sneakers to a low-necked, no sleeved, seam a little to far above my knees black dress and bare feet. And my feet were at least a foot or two off the ground- I was chained to the wall. That was why my recently broken arm hurt so much- it was bent above my head and that was what I was hanging by. I shook it off for the moment, then scanned my surroundings. I was in a dark room surrounded by ghostly white faces- vampires, all of them looking like they wanted to take a bite out of my neck.

"Welcome to the Span of Bereavement, Kaira," said a voice- Batosei. I couldn't see him, but I could tell he was close. "In case you aren't familiar with the fancy expressions, it means the Room of Death."

"What a lucky break for me," I muttered. "You said I had two days, Batosei- it's barely been one." Hitukeri began to laugh.

"I realize what I said, Kaira," he replied. "But, needless to say, I am not that patient- why should I bother with a middle man when it's so much easier to grab you?" I tried not to show him the relief I had inside- he had me know, which meant he would leave Yusuke, Aunt Atsuko... and Kurama alone. "But I still have another day until I can be reunited with Tsuki," he continued. "So until then, I plan on letting my comrades here have a little snack." He snapped his fingers and in walked a man with a tray in his hands, covered with a blood red cloth. I gasped when I saw who it was: Tim Gentry.

"Tim?!" I yelled. "Tim, what has he done to you?" Batosei looked over to Tim, then back at me.

"It got around that you had a friend in the police department, Kaira, one that would know where you were staying. I must admit, it took a little bit of persuasion to bring him in on my side, but once I had done that..." He licked his lips. "It was easy to get you into the palm of my hands." I looked away as the tears began to stream down my face. Tim was pretty much dead because of me- it was all my fault.

"Damn you," I whispered. "Damn you straight to hell." I heard his evil chuckle fill the room as he walked over to me and grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at Tim. Batosei removed the cloth and I was horrified to see what was on the tray: knives, syringes, blood bags- everything a vampire would need on their dinner table. My bottom lip began to quiver as I looked away from the tray and up at Batosei. He had changed from his human form to his demon form- his black hair went to golden blonde, violet eyes turned red, just as they had done the night he had come to my room and black marks, ones that looked like claw marks were streaked across his face. He flashed me a menacing grin as he watched me look at him- it was as if he was feeding off of my fear.

"And now, Kaira," he said, picking up a knife and placing it next to my cheek. "Let the feast begin." Seconds later, I felt the knife slice through my flesh and I was trying my hardest to hold in a scream- that was one bit of satisfaction I refused to let him have.

"Yusuke," called a voice. "Yusuke, help me." After being dragged home under extreme protest, his team saying there was nothing more they could do tonight, Yusuke had fallen asleep on the couch and now was being haunted by his dreams. "Yusuke, please..."

"Who are you?" he yelled. "How can I help you?" Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder, causing him to turn around- Kurama was standing behind him. "What the hell are you doing here?!" Kurama shook his head.

"I am just as puzzled as you are," he replied. "A voice was calling to me, but I don't know who it is, or what they want."

"Kurama, Yusuke- help me, please." Suddenly, the owner of the voice appeared- me. Yusuke and Kurama we're frightened by what I looked like: I was still wearing the black dress, which revealed the blood that was dripping from various cuts I had all over my body- mostly along my arms and legs, but there was a large gash across my right cheek. There were also puncture wounds on my fingers and my neck. I was pale from the blood I had lost and it took everything I had left to keep my eyes open.

"Kay," Yusuke said, a horrified look on his face and sadness in his eyes. "Kay-girl, what have they done to you?"

"Please," I said again. "Yusuke, Kurama- you have to help me. He's using me... taking my blood and giving it to his cronies. I can't last much longer- I'm at the space between life and death, that's the only reason I'm here now." That's when Yusuke understood. Spirit's had the ability to enter dreams, either to tell the dreamer something or to torment them- I was so close to death, I had that ability as well. 

Before Yusuke or I could say any more, Kurama walked over to me and placed his hand on my mutilated cheek. I brushed it away and looked down at the ground.

"I look terrible, don't I?" He placed his fingers under my chin and lifted it up so he could look me in the eye. His beautiful green eyes were glazed over with tears.

"You've never looked more beautiful, Kaira." I took what was left of my strength to give him a soft smile as he leaned in and gave me a kiss. A second later, he and I just stood there as he held me in his arms. "And I promise you," he whispered. "We'll find you before the full moon." I let out a sigh.

"I know you will." Suddenly, I let out a pain stricken cry as I doubled over in pain.

"Kay!" yelled Yusuke, running to my side. The bond he shared with me allowed him to sense the feelings I had for Kurama, even if I hadn't become aware of them yet, and allowed us to have our space, but was right there when I needed him. I looked up at he and Kurama, tears in my eyes.

"They're at it again," I whispered as I started to disappear. "You've only got one day left... please, Yusuke- I'm not as strong as you. I can't hold out much longer." With that, I was gone. Yusuke looked over at Kurama, angry as hell.

"We've got to find her," he said, finally. "And further more, if you break her heart, I'll break your neck."

"You little bitch!" yelled Batosei, as he punched me in the stomach waking me from my sleep. "You just had to contact your little friends, didn't you?"

"You're damn right I did," I said softly, the only tone of voice I could manage. "And you better have your tombstone polished for when my cousin gets his hands on you."

"Shut up! You'll be dead by the time he finds you and then I'll kill him too! Him and that fox demon I saw hanging around with you." I looked up at him. "Oh you didn't know?" he asked. "We was watching you that night as you bawled your eyes out in your cousins arms- I was watching him do it! I knew then and there that if I couldn't use your cousin to get to you, I could always use him... but I didn't need to do that, now did I?"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing- Kurama had seen me break down and with his demon abilities, he had most likely heard everything that I had said... yet he still loved me? He still promised that he would rescue me? For the first time since this case started, I relaxed. Then, I looked Batosei in the eyes and smiled.

"Go ahead, Hitukeri Batosei," I said. "Do your worst to me. It doesn't matter anymore- he won't let me die." Enraged, Batosei picked up a knife of the ground and slashed it across my arm. I still refused to scream.

**Hey everyone- Kaira here... what's left of me anyway. Less than 24 hours until Hitukeri Batosei can turn me vampire and revive Tsuki but I have the utmost faith in Yusuke and Kurama... but what happens when they become captured as well? Will this be the end for us all? We'll find out next time on Yu-Yu Hakusho!**


	10. Shape Shifter

Yusuke and his team agreed that it would be better if they spilt up- Hiei and Kuwabara went one way, with Botan along as referee, and he and Kurama went the other.

"You think she'll be all right?" Yusuke looked at Kurama- the old youko had learned love and compassion from his life as a human and his human mother, but Yusuke doubted he'd been able to learn about the kind of love he felt for me. "She looked so scared," Kurama continued. "She said she couldn't hold out much longer..." Yusuke put a hand on his shoulder.

"She was lying, you know." Kurama to gave him a questioning look.

"Lying?" Yusuke nodded.

"Kay said she wasn't as strong as I am," he said. "If she puts her mind to it, she has my strength and more. She'll make it through this, Kurama- I know she will."

A few moments later, Kurama froze in his tracks.

"Yusuke, what is that?" Kurama was focused towards the end of a dark alleyway , pointing at what looked like a pile of laundry. Yusuke shook his head and cautiously walked towards the 'laundry.' Seconds later, he let out a gasp.

"Kaira!" He rushed over to and took the figure in his arms. "Kay? Kay, are you all right? Speak to me, please!" As the body lay dormant, Yusuke took a good look at it and came to one conclusion- the person in his arms wasn't Kaira Urameshi.

"Wake up, Kaira- you wouldn't want to miss this." My eyes slowly opened and I noticed that my position had changed. Instead of being up against the wall, I was laying flat on my back... looking up into my own eyes and hearing my own laugh. "Oh, didn't your friend Botan tell you?" asked my voice. "About my being a shape shifter?"

"She told me," I replied. "I just never thought you'd stoop that low." I looked at 'her' and shook my head. "They'll never believe you're me." My mirror image transformed- it was once again Hitukeri Batosei. He looked down at me and scowled.

"What makes you think that, Kaira?" he asked, angrily. "Is there some sort of special bond between you and your friends that allows them to know?" I smiled.

"Yeah, actually there is. I'd explain it to you, but I doubt you'd understand. I know you wouldn't." I neglected to tell him that there were two very important things he was missing, two things that I was never without. Batosei let out a chuckle before shifting back to my shape and starting towards the door.

"We shall see Kaira- we shall see." With that he walked out the door, leaving me alone... with a dozen or so hungry vampires...

By this time, "Kaira" Batosei had "woken up" and was crying in Yusuke's arms.

"Yusuke," he cried pitifully. "I was so scared! All those vampires and, and Batosei... I didn't know what he was going to do." He continued to cry and Yusuke continued to make him believe that he believed him. Kurama knew this. Yusuke knew he knew this, but Kurama made believe he didn't know and Yusuke made believe to believe he didn't knew, but knew that he knew. Everyone knew... except for Batosei, who believed his plan was working perfectly. These two would soon be food for his troops, but not until they had witnessed their beloved Kaira perish. Kurama then let out a 'keh' and looked at Yusuke.

"How long are we going to buy this?" Suddenly, Yusuke sent Batosei flying. The vampire changed to his demon form as he slammed into a wall. He looked at Yusuke and Kurama, a scowl covering his face.

"How?" he asked. "How did you know?" Yusuke let out a laugh and shook his head.

"You shouldn't have given me time to look you over," he said. "That allowed me to see the mistakes you made: you're not wearing Kay's necklace or her tattoo. Now take us to her..." He nodded towards Kurama, who held up a wooden stake. "Or else my friend here will send you to meet your girlfriend earlier than you expected." Batosei smiled.

"You leave me no choice- I shall take you to her."

"Kay!" I struggled to open my eyes- Batosei's followers, including Tim, had a little snack while we was gone. None of them bit me, all used either a needle or a knife. Most likely they had been threatened- bite me and die. They too had left me alone a while ago, but I was still weak. I felt the cuffs on my hands and feet loosen as my eyes fully opened. Things were still blurry, but there was no disguising that bright, sly smile... or was there?

"Yusuke," I said softly. "Yusuke is that really you?" He nodded.

"It's me, Kay."

"When was I born, Yusuke?" My cousin smiled and leaned over to my ear.

"October 17th, 1986," he whispered. "9:27 am." I let out a sigh and allowed him to help me up off the table- this was really Yusuke.

"Wha-where's Kurama?"

"He's right here," said a voice. I looked over Yusuke's shoulder to see Batosei- he had one arm around Kurama's neck and the other was holding a knife to his throat. "And unless you want him to join my little army, you'll get back on that table."

"Don't do it, Kaira," Kurama demanded. "Don't do it!" I bit my lip. I couldn't let him get hurt, not because of me. "Kaira!" I looked at Yusuke and gave a sly smile.

"Family by Fate," I said. He gave me a confused look, but then understood exactly what I was getting at.

"Friends by Choice." With that, Yusuke dashed to the left and sprinted out the same door he had came in as I hopped back up on the table as I had been told. I flashed Batosei a sly smile.

"I'm on the table- let him go."

Meanwhile, as Yusuke ran out of the caves to find Kuwabara and Hiei, he thought about the last message I had sent: Yusuke and I were cousins by a stroke of fate. A similar stroke of fate had brought me together with Kurama and it was my choice to continue to risk my life for him. 

"You're a crazy girl, Kay," he thought. "Even crazier since you fell in love."

"You heard me," I said angrily. "Let Kurama go." Batosei nodded his head, then shoved Kurama to the side... into the arms of some of his little friends. "I said let him go!"

"I did let him go," Batosei told me. "Your argument is now with them." He gestured towards the group of pale faced, blood sucking, mother fucking vampires that now held Kurama prisoner.

"Damn it, Kaira!" I thought. "How could you have been so stupid? My only hope now is that Yusuke finds Kuwabara and Hiei and they'll..." I suddenly realized that my life depended on a guy who pretty much hated my guts- I was toast.

**Hey everyone, Yusuke here. So I didn't exactly get captured like Botan said I would- sue me. Anyhow, Batosei has Kaira and Kurama, so there's no question that he's gonna use that to his advantage. And as for Kaira saying she's not as strong as me... well, she doesn't know her own strength. What do I mean? Find out next time on Yu-Yu Hakusho!***


	11. 100 Pure Spirit

Yusuke ran as fast as he could down the dark hallways and out into the streets. He looked up at the sky- the full moon was rising, meaning there wasn't much time left. He had to find Hiei and Kuwabara before the moon rose much higher or it was the end of the line for me and quite possibly for Kurama as well.

"No!" I pleaded. "Batosei, please leave him alone!" Back on the table, my wrists and ankles shackled once again, I had no choice but to watch Hitukeri Batosei and his legion of vampires torture Kurama in the way they had tortured me. "Please, just let him go!" Kurama looked like he was barely alive- with the cuts he had and the beatings he'd taken, it wasn't surprising. Then, he looked up at me and smiled... if I didn't know better, I would say he acting tough just to impress me. Suddenly, Batosei snapped his fingers and the hoards of vampires backed off. This had to be too good to be true. Suddenly, a window in the ceiling above me opened and some light from the full moon shown down on me. Yeah, it was too good to be true.

"Hiei! Kuwabara! Botan!" Yusuke had finally spotted his friends and rushed over to them as quickly as he possibly could. They looked at him like he was crazy, until Hiei noticed that Kurama wasn't with him.

"Where's Kurama?" he asked in his normal tone of voice. Yusuke shook his head.

"Batosei," he replied. "He's got them both." Hiei looked calm, just as he always did, but wasn't fooling anyone. Kurama was the closest thing Hiei had to a best friend and everyone knew it. Everyone also knew that no matter what was said, Hiei did care about Kurama. And he wasn't about to let him be eaten by a bunch of mangy vampire... and while he was at it, he might as well save me too.

This was it- time was up. The full moon was high in the sky and shining right on me. Batosei was standing next to me in his demon form, a book in his hands, preparing to perform the ritual. From what I understood, he's read this little scripture that would send my spirit out of my body and replace it with Tsuki's. After that had been done, I would technically be dead, but my body would still be living- Tsuki would be a full blooded human. So, after her spirit had been placed in my body, Batosei would simply bite her neck and the ritual was over.

As Hitukeri Batosei began to recite his little chant, I looked over at Kurama, who had taken my place in the chains on the wall. After I was gone, he would most likely become Tsuki's main course, unless Yusuke and everyone got to him first.

"Kurama?" I called softly. He had been staring down at the ground in defeat- he had come here to save me and, as far as he was concerned, he had failed. But when he heard my voice, a bit of hope seemed to fill him and he looked up at me.

"Kaira?" he asked in reply. A small smile curled my lips as a single tear cascaded down my cheek. There was something important I wanted to say... but never got the chance.

Suddenly, I let out a painful scream. Batosei had finished his spell and my spirit was being sucked out of me. If you couldn't tell by my screams, it hurt like hell. Imagine this: you just walked across a shag carpeted floor in your socks and touch something with your hand- a doorknob, a piece of silverware or even another person- and you receive a small shock. Take that shock and make the voltage limitless. That's how I felt... then seconds later, I felt nothing at all.

"No!" yelled Kurama. "Kaira!" My body was then taken over by Tsuki's spirit, which had been hovering overhead, looking like a black cloud. It floated down and went into my open mouth, causing Batosei to let out an evil laugh as he bent down over my neck.

"With this bite," he said. "I bring you back, my beloved." Kurama watched in horror, trying to get himself free in the process, but to no avail. Batosei was closing in on my neck...

Suddenly, he froze. Then he stood up and turned toward Kurama- the point of a stake was sticking out through his chest, right in the area where his heart would be. Batosei then turned towards the door way: Hiei was standing there, a grin- a smug one, but still a grin- on his face and his arms crossed in front of him.

"Sorry, Batosei," he said. "But if anyone's gonna kill that girl, it's gonna be me." The vampire just glared at him. Seconds later, he dropped to the ground as his skin pealed away, followed by his muscles and bones. In a matter of minutes, he was gone. After he had left, Batosei's followers charged towards Hiei, who simply stepped towards the side, revealing Yusuke, Kuwabara and Botan. As the team of guys started in on the vampires, Botan rushed over to Kurama and freed him from the wall.

"Kurama," she said. "Are you...?" He said nothing, but staggered over to the table where my body lay dormant.

"Kaira?" he asked. "Kaira, please wake up." He began to brush some hair out of my face when my hand shot up and grabbed his wrist. Seconds later, my other hand grabbed him by his throat.

"Don't touch me." 

Kurama was aghast- it was my voice, but it was spliced with an evil growl. Tsuki had taken over and proved that by throwing Kurama across the room. Botan backed away quickly, afraid that she would be next, but Tsuki merely walked over to Kurama and grabbed him by the neck again.

"I shall kill you now," she said evilly. "Just the way you killed my love." Kurama stared into her eyes, waiting for the end to come. Suddenly, Tsuki let go of Kurama's neck and the boy dropped to the floor. He was confused- she was ready to kill him. Why stop? That's when he heard a voice.

"First of all, he didn't kill Batosei. Second- if you want him, you're gonna have to get through me." Kurama could believe who he was hearing… and seeing- it was me. Well, sort of.

"How can you be alive?!" yelled Tsuki. "I'm in your body!" I let out a chuckle as I combed my fingers through my hair.

"You may have my body," I said. "But you don't have my spirit." I patted my chest. "And here it is, one hundred pure, ready to whip your ass." I charged at her giving her everything I had, which was, needless to say, a lot. I was now pure spirit energy- my power was limitless. Tsuki, on the other hand, was merely a human… a human in my body, which still sported a broken arm. I was gonna hurt like hell when I was finished, but it would be worth it.

By this time, Yusuke, Hiei and Kuwabara had finished off what was left of Batosei's followers and were now watching me beat up myself… well, it's not like their jobs ever really made a lot of sense anyway.

"Yusuke!" I yelled as I drove my fist into Tsuki's stomach. "Get that damn book!" I was talking about the one Batosei had used to bring back Tsuki- if that took my spirit out of my body, maybe it could put my spirit back.

"Got it, Kay!" Yusuke said as he ran towards the book. He picked it up off the ground and started to read. One problem- the writing was in some sort of demonic language. "Hiei! Get over here and read this!"

"Keh," said Hiei, shaking his head. "I'm coming." Yusuke had expected Hiei to tell him to fuck off or something. There was no love lost between Hiei and I, that was certain... then again, even Hiei had a heart, no matter how small. Still, he didn't exactly rush right over to Yusuke.

Meanwhile, Botan was trying to keep Kurama from getting up and hurting himself even more. He kept trying to get off the ground and get over to help me- Botan couldn't convince him that I was doing fine on my own, even though I was visibly creaming Tsuki.

"I am sick..." Punch to the stomach. "Of wasting..." Spinning heal kick to the side of the head. "My time..." Another punch to the stomach. "On you!" I gave her a final uppercut that sent her flying across the room, before summoning my Spirit Bow. Kurama looked at me in shock.

"No Kaira!" he yelled. "If you fire your Spirit Bow the way you are, there won't be any of you left!" Botan knew he was right- I was pure spirit energy at this point in time and because of my anger, firing my Spirit Bow would use up most of, if not all, of that energy. But I didn't hear them in time.

"Spirit Bow, multiply!" This was a trick that I rarely used- instead of one arrow forming, I got five... and I fired all of them at Tsuki. It seemed that the Spirit Arrows were linked to me: as they flew towards Tsuki, I slowly unraveled- it was as if I was a piece of cloth and someone was pulling on a loose string.

"Kaira!" I looked over at Kurama, who was leaning on Botan, his jaw hanging open in fear. I gave him a soft smile as I slowly disappeared.

"I love you, Kurama," I said. "And no matter what happens, I always will." Kurama was speechless- he knew what he wanted to say, but his mouth refused to form the words and not for a lack of trying. The next thing he knew, I was gone, but I managed to say one last thing: "I know, Kurama. I know."

"There!" said Hiei. "I read it- her spirit should be back in her body by now." Yusuke didn't say anything, prompting Hiei to give him an annoyed look. "Well, I wasn't expecting at 21 gun salute, but a simple thank you would be nice." Yusuke shook his head.

"If she's gonna be all right," he said. "Then why does Kurama look so sad?" Hiei looked over at Kurama- he was sitting on the ground with my body resting in his arms. I looked like hell, even more so since the Spirit Arrow attack. Kurama brushed my hair out of my face, hoping my arm would shoot up and grab his once again. No such luck.

"Kaira," he whispered. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you... and I'm sorry that I wasn't able to say the one thing I really wanted you to hear. I love you too, Kaira Urameshi." He leaned in towards my face. "And I always will." With that, he gave me a kiss, one that was long and passionate. When the kiss had ended, a tear rolled down Kurama's cheek and landed on my own. But what really surprised Kurama was that I reacted to it- when the drop hit my cheek, I flinched. My eyes closed tighter, but just for a moment. After that, they slowly opened and I looked up at the red haired boy who had me in his arms. I smiled.

"Hey there." Kurama let out a gasp.

"Kaira!" he stuttered. "You... you're..." I grabbed his shirt collar and pulled his face back towards me.

"Shut up and kiss me."

***Hey everyone, Kaira here! Yeah, so I survived- disappointed? Anyway, that's the end of this case, but do not lose hope! This is "The Kaira _Files_," remember? There's gonna be more cases, I guarantee it... but not until I recover from my own Spirit Arrow attack. So stay tuned for the new cases, next time on Yu-Yu Hakusho!***


	12. Kaira's Spirit Beast

"Ow!" I yelled. "OW! Damn it, Aunt Atsuko! Allow me to keep what little life I have left, will ya?" I had barely made it home alive and now my darling aunt was trying to kill me with love and affection.

"Kaira!" she sobbed. "I don't want to lose you! Not after losing your mother and almost losing Yusuke..." I let out a painful groan as she squeezed me tight.

"Then do me a favor and let me go!" Aunt Atsuko instantly released me and watched me sigh in relief. I hurt like hell and I thought I had a good reason to- in the past forty-eight hours I had gotten the shit kicked out of me, lost a good deal of my blood, technically died, and was nearly hugged to death by my aunt. All and all, I'd have to say it was a rather memorable experience.

It had been a week since I survived Batosei and Yusuke and Kurama were worried- my wounds were not fatal, but close enough and they weren't healing properly. If fact, they looked like I had just received them. And I was very weak. Well, that's what they tell me anyway. I thought I was just fine. It was probably because Aunt Atsuko hadn't let me out of the house... or my room... or my bed. Yeah, you heard right: I was trapped in my room and only allowed to do one thing- play with Yusuke's Spirit Beast, Ku. It was mostly out of curiosity- I couldn't figure out how my rough and tough cousin got a cute little blue penguin with black hair and bunny ears for a Spirit Beast.

"So, what's with this Spirit Beast thing, Botan?" I asked. "You said something about them once, didn't you?" Botan smiled and nodded.

"Yes," she replied. "Koenma didn't want you to be eaten by yours." I giggled. Botan had come over to visit me in my current state of misery, for which I was very glad. I was bored as hell. She seemed to be glad about my interest in Spirit Beasts, although I wasn't quiet sure why. That's when she pulled out a large golden egg- and when I say large, I mean it. It was about the size of a football and when she set it in my lap, I discovered that it was almost twice as heavy.

"What's this?" I asked her.

"Koenma feels that you are ready for your own Spirit Beast," Botan told me. "I personally think he's crazy, but I can't argue with him."

"Why would you think I'm not ready?" Botan shook her head, a worried expression on her face.

"Spirit Beasts feed off of a person's energy- if you have a positive energy, you receive a Spirit Beast like Ku..." She started to giggle- my guess was that when Ku arrived, Yusuke was less than thrilled. "But negative energies create evil Spirit Beasts that will devour their creator in one gulp." I tilted my head to the side.

"I've given you reason to believe that I have negative energies?" As Botan started to answer, the egg shell began to crack.

"This is it!" she cried. "The moment of truth!" A bright flash filled the room, one so bright that it signaled Yusuke, Kurama and Kayko, who were out in the kitchen, and Kuwabara and Hiei, who were in the living room. They all rushed to my room where I had my broken arm resting in my lap and was staring at a strange animal in front of me.

The head was colored orange and looked like that of a teddy bear, slightly modified: the ears, which were separated by a tuft of black hair, were rounded near the bottom, but had red flame like designs near the top. The eyes were crescent shaped, colored a bright yellow with a small black pupil and had the red flame design over the tops. It's body was orange as well, with a gold chain around the neck that was accented by a dark gray collar of fur, and the gray was outlined by red. What really got me was that the animal had two fox-like tails- gray at the top, a small jagged streak of red, than orange the rest of the way down. I stared at it, it stared at me. This went on for a couple of minutes until the animal spoke in a female type voice.

"Mimi." I continued to just stare at it, not quite sure what to make of it. "Mimi!" she said again, this time in an aggravated voice, with an aggravated face to match.

"What does it want me to do?" I asked, not taking my eyes off the... well, the whatever it was. A fox with a teddy bear head, funny lookin' ears and colored like fire- what would you call it?

But before anyone could reply, the Spirit Beast let me know what it wanted- she made her way over to my right hand, which was resting on the bed, and nuzzled her head underneath it. Her fur was the softest thing I ever felt and I couldn't help but scratch her behind the ears, prompting the animal to let out a low but happy growl. Not a purr, mind you- this was definitely a growl. I smiled.

"You wanted to be petted, eh Mimi?" I asked, taking note of how her head followed my hand when I tried to pull it away. "I can live with that."

"Mimi," she replied, happily, leaning into my touch. I smiled- I had a new friend.

***Hey everyone, Yusuke here- wait a second, how come Kay gets a cool looking Spirit Beast, and I'm stuck with the flying penguin?! No offence, Ku. Anyway, Kay's still not healing properly- in fact, she's gotten worse- so Kurama and I have decided to go find Hiei's half sister, Yukina and see if her healing powers can help. Only problem is that Kuwabara insists on going with us, Kayko is out of town with my mom and Botan has some sort of problem in Spirit World... meaning I have to leave Kay with Hiei or leave her alone! Will Hiei and the sickly Kay manage to kill each other before we get back with help? Find out next time on Yu-Yu Hakusho!***


	13. Hiei's Adventures in Babysitting

***Hey all! This Chapter is dedicated to all you Hiei fans who say I'm giving him a bad rap- I went easy on him this chapter, so be happy. This is also dedicated to Archangel Rhapsody, who gave me the idea! Muchas Gracisis Chicata!***

I was sleeping soundly, my right arm draped over Mimi, who was sleeping as well, when Yusuke came into my room. He put his hand on my forehead for a brief second, before quickly jerking it away. He had never felt something that hot before in his life, at least not a person's forehead- Yusuke thought that he might have ice his hand.

"How is she doing?" Yusuke turned around to see Kurama leaning up against the door jam, a worried expression on his face. Yusuke shook his head.

"I never thought two weeks of doing nothing would harm a person," he replied. "But she's getting worse- her forehead is on fire, the cuts haven't healed and she's been asleep for who knows how long!" It had been two weeks since I had returned home and I'd probably been sleeping for two-thirds of it (Thank God it's summer vacation, right?). What can I say? I felt like my life had been sucked out of me and sleep was the only thing I could do. Wait- now that I think about it, my life was sucked out of me, wasn't it? But it was put back, so what the devil is going on?

"Well," Kurama said suddenly. "When I think fire, I also think ice... more accurately an Ice Apparition." Yusuke looked up at him and smiled.

"You're talkin' about Yukina," he stated, prompting a nod from Kurama. "But we'll have to go get her, and that would mean leaving Kay by herself..."

"Kuwabara could stay with her." Yusuke shook his head.

"Kuwabara actually stay here while we go visit Yukina?"

"Yukina?" yelled Kuwabara, rushing into the room. "We're gonna go see her?!" Kurama sighed.

"I suppose you're right," he said. "But, what can we do? You're mother and Kayko are gone for the weekend, Botan has something going on in Spirit World... Kuwabara, could your sister look after Kaira while we're gone?" Kuwabara shook his head.

"Shizuru's at work," he replied. "She won't be home until about one." Yusuke looked at the clock- that was three hours from now and he didn't want to risk leaving me alone for that long. He and the others would be gone for a couple of days at least, and since it was the weekend, today being Friday, Shizuru could stay with me.

"Call her," Yusuke said. "Explain what's going on and ask if she'd come over and stay when she gets off work." Kuwabara nodded, then called his sister. A few moments later, he got the okay.

"But what are we gonna do until then?" asked Kuwabara. "Wait for her to get off?" Yusuke shook his head. He then let out an aggravated sigh and went into the living room. Hiei was there, watching TV like he was bored. Why he was sticking around, Yusuke didn't know, but was semi-glad he was there at the moment.

"I need your help," Yusuke said matter-of-factly, in a tone that was three-fourths threatening, one-fourth pleading. "Kurama, Kuwabara and I are going to see Yukina. We think she might be able to help Kaira and I need you to look after her until Shizuru can get here." Hiei looked at Yusuke, giving him his normal expressionless glare.

"You want me to baby-sit."

"I want you to make sure nothing else happens to her! She'll probably sleep most of the time, so all you have to do is sit here and watch TV. If you can't handle that, you can go with Kurama and Kuwabara to get Yukina and I'll stay here." Hiei examined his possibilities: go see Yukina, the half-sibling who barely knew he existed (She knew she had a brother, but she didn't know it was him) or stay here with me.

"I'll stay." 

Yusuke had a feeling that Hiei would see things his way- Hiei was scared of very few things, but telling his sister who he really was ranked number one. Yusuke nodded his thanks and walked off, leaving Hiei alone.

Hiei had been sitting in the same spot since Yusuke and company left twenty minutes ago and had managed to doze off... until a quiet but urgent voice woke him from his slumber.

"Mimi." Hiei's eyes slowly opened and he saw the Firebear, as Botan called her, sitting on his stomach. Mimi looked fatigued as she stared directly into Hiei's eyes. The fire demon knew that a Spirit Beast's condition reflected that of their human partner. "Mimi!" she insisted again, this time digging her claws into Hiei's skin. Hiei slightly winced before getting up off the bed.

"All right," he said. "I'm going." He followed Mimi down the hall and noticed that she didn't stop at my bedroom. Confused, Hiei peeked his head in the door- I wasn't there. "Damn it! Where is she?" 

Suddenly, he heard a crash in the kitchen and rushed down the hall to see what had happened. I was on the floor next to the sink, a broken glass in front of me, breathing very deeply. To Hiei, it looked like I was trying to pick myself up off the ground without using my left arm. Mimi came over to me and let out a soft whimper, then licked my cheek. Hiei shook his head.

"Baka Baita," he muttered as he walked over to me and tried helped me up, but I shrugged him away.

"Leave me alone," I said softly, but angrily. "I'm all right." Hiei rolled his eyes.

"No you're not," he told me before picking me up and starting to carry me back to my room, Mimi trailing along behind.

"Let me go to the living room," I requested. "At least grant me that courtesy." Hiei didn't reply, but he did take me to the living room and sat me down on the couch. "Thank you." Still no reply- instead, Hiei went back to the kitchen. I could hear him cleaning up the glass and had to giggle. Seconds later, he returned with a glass of water and handed it to me. I smiled as I took the glass. "Thanks." He nodded and sat down in a chair next to the couch. A moment later, Hiei grabbed the TV remote and began to surf through the channels. After a minute of this, I saw a show I liked and asked him to stop there.

"What is this?" he asked after a moment of watching the show. People were yelling at each other about something and then they started fighting about nothing... it was intriguing. I glanced over at him and smiled.

"It's Jerry Springer," I replied. "It's a talk show."

"What's the point?" I shrugged.

"People come on here to confess stuff- screwing around, secret fantasies, etcetera. I watch it for the fights that break out: pro wrestling in the day time." He laughed- I couldn't believe it, he really laughed. And his laughter made me laugh as well, though it made my chest hurt and caused me to cough.

"You gonna make it?" he asked me. I didn't respond I was coughing so hard. Moments later, I removed my hand from my mouth- it was covered with blood. I cracked a slight smile.

"If I don't cough up a lung I will." Hiei rolled his eyes, but before he could say anything I got up off the couch and walked towards the kitchen, wobbling every step of the way.

"What are you doing?!" he cried. I steadied myself by placing my clean left hand on a nearby wall. I then pushed against the wall, turning myself to face him.

"I'm going to wash my hand and try to eat something," I replied. "If I fall again, you'll be the first to know." I flipped back around and headed into the kitchen. "I'll take it slow, I promise." I called back. And slow I did- twenty minutes to be exact. I took twenty minutes to go to the kitchen, wash my hands, make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and walk back to the living room. And I'm proud to say that I made it in one piece. Not that I stayed awake long after that- I conked out as soon as I hit the couch. Hiei looked at me and shook his head. My arm was dangling over the side of the couch, with Mimi eating the sandwich in my hand and my jaw was hanging open.

"Silly girl," he thought. "But maybe if she stays asleep, I won't have to worry about her anymore." With that, Hiei turned the television to something he wanted to watch- kickboxing.

My eyes slowly opened and I let a gasp upon realizing where I was: The Span of Bereavement. How could I be back in here? Back on the table where I had 'died,' my arms chained above my head and my legs chained to the end of the table. I then heard a door open and footsteps come towards me. Seconds later, he was there- Hitukeri Batosei. He said nothing as he stood over me for a moment before leaping on top of me and leaning towards my face.

"Tsuki," he whispered into my ear. "Tsuki, my beloved." As he licked my neck (yes, I said licked!) my neck, I struggled to get him off of me.

"No!" I cried between horrified screams. "I'm not Tsuki! Get of off me, now! BATOSEI!" He started to laugh and looked into my eyes. I never remembered his being so frightening before- they were now gold with small red pupils. I became frozen staring into them.

"I know you aren't Tsuki," he said, bearing his fangs and leaning towards my neck once again. "But you soon will be." I felt something puncture my neck and let out another scream.

"BATOSEI! NO!"

"**FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WOMAN WAKE UP!**" Hiei had fallen asleep as well, but quickly awakened when he heard me scream. He had expected to find someone trying to kill me- vampires, demons, sumo wrestlers- anything along those lines. When he realized I was only having a nightmare, he relaxed and went back to watching TV... until he heard me scream about Batosei. "Come on, Kaira," he said, angrily. "Wake up, damn it!"

He finally decided to use a last resort- my screams were giving him a headache and he couldn't take it anymore. He walked into the kitchen and filled a glass with water. Then he walked back into the living room, and calmly splashed the water in my face. I woke up with a start, gasping for air. I looked around and my eyes landed on Hiei and the water glass in his hand.

"What the hell are you trying to do?!" I cried. "Drown me!" Hiei rolled his eyes and ignored my comment.

"Are you all right?" I nodded slightly, but said nothing. Hiei could tell by the look in my eyes that I was still tired but frightened of going back to sleep. And the fact I was shaking like a leaf kinda confirmed it for him. He let out an angered sigh as he sat down on the couch next to me and put his arm around my shoulder. He expected me to flinch, pull away or something like that. But I didn't. I leaned on his shoulder and closed my eyes. Hiei stiffened up- he wasn't normally this caring, especially not towards someone he didn't even like. If this ever got around, not only would his reputation be ruined, but Kurama would most likely kill him.

About an hour later, Shizuru showed up. I was still sleeping on Hiei's shoulder and he still looked uncomfortable. When he saw Shizuru, he carefully removed my head from his shoulder and began to walk towards the door. He was almost out of the apartment when he heard my quiet voice calling after him.

"Thanks Hiei." He grunted a reply and walked the rest of the way out the door. When he was about five blocks away from my house he let out another sigh.

"You're welcome, Baita."


	14. The Kori Guardian

A few days had passed since Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama had left to seek the help of the Ice Apparition, Yukina. I had made it back into my room after Aunt Atsuko returned home and found me on the couch. She didn't care how I got there, but I was getting back in bed where I belonged. She did put the TV in my room, though. So, I was back in bed watching Jerry Springer when I was awake, dreaming of Kurama when I wasn't. The taste of his kisses, the feel of his arms around me, that smile on his face... all were constantly on my mind. What I'd give to be back in his arms again.

It had taken Yusuke longer than he had thought to get to her and he was praying I was still alive. As was Kurama, who couldnt wait to see me again. Kuwabara was just happy to see Yukina and told her that a lot when they finally found her. He also told Yukina why they had come, much to Yusuke's surprise. He figured the big dork would continue blabbing on about Yukina's eyes or something. But he got right to the point after two or three flattering compliments. Yukina looked at him sadly then looked down at the ground.

I would love to help you, Kazuma, she said. But, I can't leave home right now.

Why not?! asked Yusuke, angrily. My cousin could die if she doesn't get help! We don't even know what's wrong with her! Yukina's head suddenly shot up, intrigued.

What are the symptoms? Yusuke told her what had happened to me and that I now slept most of the time, ran an extremely high fever and seemed to get worse every minute.

She also coughs up blood, if that helps. Everyone turned around to see Hiei leaning against a tree, the same expressionless look on his face. I went to check on the Baita today, he replied to the unasked question of what the hell are you doing here.' She told me that you three weren't home and... asked me to come find you.

In all actuality, I'd blackmailed him- if he didn't go find Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama, I'd tell Botan all about him comforting me after my nightmare and Botan would most likely tell all of Spirit World. I wouldn't do that, but Hiei believed I would. Yusuke knew this. Hiei knew that he knew this, but Yusuke made believe that he didn't know and Hiei made believe to believe that he didn't know, but knew that he knew. And he sent Yusuke a message with his eyes: One word and I'll slit your throat.

Yukina suddenly let out a gasp. The symptoms I had... could it be?

she said. Your cousin, what is her name... how old is she? Upon hearing my name and age, Yukina's suspicions were confirmed- I was indeed the one she was looking for. Let us be going then. Kuwabara gave her a confused look.

But you said...

I'll explain on the way, Kazuma. But we have to hurry. This girl can not die- not yet anyway. Yukina quickly grabbed some supplies and they started off, with Yukina explaining as she had promised. What your cousin is going through, Yusuke isn't an ordinary sickness.

What was your first clue? came the reply. Most sicknesses get better after time, not worse. Kurama put a hand on Yusuke's shoulder.

I think we should let her explain, he said. Go ahead, Yukina. Yukina nodded her thanks and went on.

Your cousin's sickness isn't to be fully blamed on her recent experience- that was merely one test to see if she was worthy of a certain task. The second test is yet to come, but the fact that she has survived this long with the sickness says that she has passed the first. Hiei raised his eyebrows.

What kind of task is the Baita worthy of? he asked.

She has been chosen to be the Kori Guardian of Powers. Yusuke gave her a confused look.

She's the who of what? Yukina let out a sigh, but before she could explain, Kurama did it for her.

There are five elements of Earth, he said. Okibi (Fire), Kori (Ice), Ichijin (Wind), Raikou (Lightning) and Daichi (Earth). Each of these elements has a Guardian for their powers, a person destined from birth to learn these powers and protect them with their lives. Yukina nodded.

The Powers always choose their own Guardians, Yukina said. They believed that humans were less likely to abuse these powers, so these individuals have always been humans- well, all but one. She turned to Yusuke. If I remember correctly, you know the Ichijin Guardian very well, Yusuke. My cousin smiled.

Jin the Wind Master, eh? I was hoping I'd meet up with him again.

Wait a second, said Hiei, stepping towards the group. You can't honestly believe that the little Baita is the Kori Guardian- shes not qualified. Yukina shook her head.

We'll soon see, she told him. The Kori Guardian has always had three specific traits, other than the tests: it's always a girl; she has an ice blue heart birthmark on her neck and she is always named Kaira.

It can't be Kay, Yusuke said, matter-of-factly. She hates cold- she's told me herself that she'd rather burn to death than freeze to death. Yukina shrugged her shoulders.

No one said she had to like it.

Back home, I had been continuing to drift in and out of sleep, having the craziest dreams the entire time. One was about a demon circus, where Hiei was a knife thrower and Kurama was a fire-eater. But the dream that really caught my attention was about me. I was standing in front of a woman at least ten times older than me. Her black hair was streaked with gray and her dark blue eyes were soft and kind. On her neck was what I assumed to be a birthmark- an icy blue heart. She looked at me and smiled.

It is your time, Kaira Urameshi, she told me. Your time to learn the ways of the Kori Guardian. She put her fingers on my neck for a brief moment, then pointed behind me- there was a mirror there. I looked into it and found a mark where she had put her fingers; an blue heart. My eyes went back to her- her mark was gone. They will come for you soon, Kaira. Seconds later, I woke up and instantly went to my mirror- the blue heart was still on my neck. I took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh.

Okay, I'm officially creped out now.

So, Yukina, said Yusuke as they made their way back to my room. How do you know so much about the Kori Guardian? Yukina looked at him and smiled.

From the Guardian herself, was the reply. She is nearing her one hundred sixtieth birthday...

Her what?! cried Kuwabara.

And believes that she doesn't have much time left, Yukina finished, while she ignored Kuwabara and the groans he received. She wishes to pass on her knowledge to the next Guardian while she still can. 

Yusuke was immediately reminded of his own teacher, Genkai, and a sad smile covered his face. She had pushed him almost to his breaking point and constantly referred to him as but she believed in him, believed that he was capable of mastering her techniques. And when she had died... Yusuke damn near lost it.

Kaira Sonique has been the Kori Guardian since she was Kaira Urameshi's age. The voice of Yukina brought Yusuke back to reality- he wanted to know just what his cousin was getting into. She has followed the code of the Guardians perfectly...

And pray tell, said Yusuke. What exactly is the code of the Guardians, if I may be so bold? Yukina looked at him, puzzled.

Why must you know?

Because I want to know if my cousin is going to be able to handle it. Yukina nodded- she had never seen Yusuke care so much about one person... well, she had seen it, but she had never heard him actually come close to admitting it before.

The code of the Guardians is simple: They can not kill the other Guardians, they must not use their powers for evil and they are forbidden use their powers for personal gain.

said Yusuke. Is there anything the Guardians can do?

Oh yes, said Yukina. They are encouraged to assist anyone in any way they can... I believe your cousin is a Spirit Detective, yes? Yusuke nodded. And they are also encouraged to lead normal lives- falling in love and stuff like that. She paused. I believe that our new Guardian will do just fine.

***Kuwabara here. So Kaira has been chosen to be the Kori Guardian of powers... yippee for her. I can't wait to see if she can actually survive Zani, the Okibi Guardian, Laxor, the Raikou Guardian, and Fox, the Daichi Guardian... she'll probably enjoy Jin. And then there's her training. Can the lady Spirit Detective survive the task before her? We'll find out next time on Yu-Yu Hakusho!***


	15. Kidnapping?

Sarah: After a three month hiatus, and the fact that almost no one responded to my Role Play request, we are back in action.

Hiei: Much to my dismay, let me assure you.

Kaira: Sarah, if you don't, I will…

Sarah: *smacks Hiei upside the head* There- actual "Hiei Bashing." On with the fic!

Yusuke was whipped. After picking up Yukina, he'd taken five extra minutes to drop Kurama, Kuwawbara and Hiei off at their respective houses, before taking Yukina back home to hopefully heal me... and then he was damn near mauled by his mother when he walked through the door. 

"Yusuke," she cried, wrapping her arms around him. "Yusuke, they're gone- both of them are gone!"

"Calm down, Mom," he said, annoyed. "Who's gone?"

"Kaira! Her and that little cat... bear... thing. They're gone!" Yusuke went pale, then turned to Yukina.

"There something you're not telling us?"

"Where am I? What the hell is going on?!" I'm the type of person who likes waking up in the same place I fell asleep. So, you can imagine my surprise when I fell asleep in my room and woke somewhere else. Imean, the somewhere else wasn't all that bad- soft bed, brightly colored walls, a fish tank filled with oceanic life... but it definately wasn't my room.

"Calm yourself, Kaira Urameshi." I looked towards the voice and was greatly surprised what I saw.

"It's you!" I cried. "You're the woman from my dream!" It was really her- same gray streaked black hair, same soft blue eyes. "Hey, what's going here? I am so lost." The woman smiled, then walked over at sat next to me on the bed.

"Do not worry, Kaira," she replied. "I brought you here in order to protect you- from what I've seen of you, you can handle yourself, but I want to be sure." I blinked. A few times. I was still lost. "Allow me to introduce myself- I am Kaira Sonique. My job is to train you- the Kori Guardian of Powers." I gave her another set of blinks.

"I'm the who of what?" She began to chuckle.

"This maybe a bit harder then I thought... but here goes nothing." In the next ten to twenty minutes I learned the entire history of the Kori Guardian- the fact they've always been named Kaira, the powers they have, etc. "But, my time here is getting short, Kaira- and you're time here is just beginning. And your powers are growing, which is why I brought you here. Malak has already tried to get his hands on the rest of the Guardians- if he gets to you before your powers have developed fully, he can take them easily..."

"Whoa, you lost me again!" I said. "Who is Malak?"

"Malak was one of the choices for the Okibi Guardian of Powers. When he failed the tests of the Guardians, the position was given to Zani. He became furious and started attacking guardians. He's killed two as it is, and I don't want to make it three."

"So we're banning together to keep you safe and hopefully stop him."

Again, I found myself looking towards the voice I'd just heard. Standing in the doorway were three people. The first, a guy, was definately a demon- fiery red hair, green eyes, pointy ears, parachute pants and no shirt. By the way, he was floating about a foot off the ground... okay, and he was kinda cute, in a demonish sort of way. But he was nowhere close to Kurama. Either way, he said nothing more- just gave a acknowledgeing nod.

The second, another guy, had both feet on the ground and was about my height. He had blonde hair and a bright, cocky smile. He was fully clothed, wearing a set of tight black jeans, blue t-shirt, red sneakers and light orange sunglasses over his blue eyes. 

"I'm Fox Mason," he said, his North American Yankee accent showing clearly. "The Daichi Guardian." I nodded, then turned my attention to the third. Yet another guy, he reminded me of a Phoenix- bright orange hair, hightlighted red at the tips, one blue eye and one green eye, and clothed in black.

"Laxor Hughes," he said with a strong British accent. "Raikou Guardian of Powers." I gave another nod and went to the last person- she made me stop and go wow. Literally.

"Wow," I said. "I love your hair!" Like mine, it was short and black, but hers had this awesome tint to it- it looked golden and it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. And her clothes- it was almost like looking into a mirror. Blue jeans, white sneakers with a red stripe, a black t-shirt, reading "Of Course I'm An Angel- Just Don't Piss Me Off," under a green jacket. She ran her fingers through her hair and smiled.

"Thanks, Kori," she said- I detected no accent, meaning she was Japanese. "I can fix yours like it, except I think silver would look so much cooler on you." I smiled, then got up and walked over to her. I stuck out my hand.

"Urameshi," I told her. "You probably know my first name." She smiled and took my hand, giving it a firm shake.

"Zani Love- Guardian of the Okibi Powers. And yeah, I know you- I brought you and that animal thing here." My eyes widened.

"Oh my gosh, Mimi! Is she all right?" Suddenly, I felt something rub up against my leg.

"Mimi?" I looked down and there she was. I chuckled.

"Get up here you silly thing!" Mimi gave a nod and lifted her tails. Seconds later, they began to spin around and she lifted into the air like a helicopter. She flew up to my open arms and rested peacefully in them, giving me her low happy growl. "I've been worried about you, with me being so sick and all... wait- why am I not sick?!" Kaira Sonique began to laugh, as did Zani.

"Again, Kaira Urameshi, you must calm..."

"And why do you call me that?" I asked. "I go by "Kaira" or "Urameshi" only, not both in the same sentence." Kaira Sonique laughed again.

"You are a fiesty one, Kaira," she replied. "But you shall be just Kaira from now on... and to avoid confusion, I shall be Sonique." I smiled and gave a nod. "As for your illness, usually, we use the sickness as a test, to see if our Guardian Elects have the will their job requires. But after seeing you survive your encounter with Hitukeri Batosei, we decided to cancel that test, under the reasoning that you had been through enough."

"But I still got sick- how's that work?"

"We believe it was Malak's doing," the red haired, pointed eared guy told me. "By the way, I'm Jin the Wind Master/Ichijin Guardian. Your cousin is a good friend of mine."

"Yeah, he told me about you and the Dark Tournament- when's the next one? I can't wait."

"That will come in time, Kaira," said Sonique. "The Guardians don't usually bring a team to the Dark Tournament, but with you as a Spirit Detective I can't imagine you not participating... but back to the illness. As far as we know, Malak knows your name and nothing else- therefore, he didn't believe you could survive such a task." I chuckled.

"He don't know me very well, do he?" Zani let out a laugh, making my smile widen. I genuinely liked her- she was my kind of person. "So you brought me here to keep me out of trouble?"

"They brought you here," said Jin. "I tried to convince them that you were perfectly fine with Urameshi, which I know you would be."

"My cousin is a living guardian angel for me," I told him. Then, I suddenly silenced, my eyes widening once again.

"What's wrong, Kori?" Zani asked me. "You look like you're gonna pass out or something." I shook my head.

"Dear God, he's going to be worried sick."


	16. The First Power

            "Well?! Yuknia?" Yukina bit her lip and shook her head.

            "I swear to you, Yusuke," she whispered. "I have told you all that I know. If something has happened, it wasn't my doing, nor of my knowledge." Yusuke was about to ask who the hell's doing it was when the phone rang. Yusuke picked it up angrily and put it up to his ear.

            "What?!" There was a brief silence.

            "Fine- you don't want to talk to me, I'll hang up now and call Kurama instead." Yusuke's jaw dropped.

            "Kay?! Are you all right?" I chuckled.

            "I'm fine, Yusuke- I'm with some..." I looked over at Laxor, Fox, Jin, Zani and Sonique and smiled. "I'm with friends."

            "Where with friends?"

            "I can't tell you where I am- at least not over the phone."

            "Why the fuck not?!"

            "Because I said no."

            "Kaira Urameshi, what the hell is going on?"

            "Just get Kurama, Kuwabara and Hiei and go to the school- be there at midnight. Someone will be there to help you." Before Yusuke could say anymore, I hung up the phone. "Boy, he's gonna hate me for this."

            "As would I," said Sonique. "You were a bit over mysterious with him, weren't you?"

            "It's not like I could tell him exactly where I was!" I exclaimed. "You haven't told me that either, you know!" Zani, who was adding the sliver tint to my hair, tossed her head back and laughed.

            "Sorry 'bout that, Kori," she said. "This is the Castle of Guardians- it's hidden from the outside world, and has everything here we would ever need."

            "Am I supposed to move in here?" I asked, trying to hide my worry. Don't get me wrong, it was a cool place but I'd rather be home with Yusuke... and Kurama.

            "No, we don't usually stay here unless there's an emergency," said Fox. "The rest of the time it's just empty."

            "I stay here," Sonique jumped in. "It is the only home I've ever and will ever will have." I nodded.

            "It's a great place... but it's not my home."

            "Well, we're here. Where is the Baita?" Hiei had always been the impatient one, and the fact that he was being dragged off to a Human Learning Institute in the middle of the night with Kurama, two people he didn't like and the sister who didn't know who he was really didn't do much to lighten his mood. Yusuke shook his head.

            "Give it up," he replied. "You want to help Kay as much as the rest of us and you know it." Hiei rolled his eyes.

            "You know, I'm really going out on a limb for her on this, and I'm not the kind..."

            "Excuse me." The group turned around- a young woman was standing behind them. "I'm Zani Love- Okibi Guardian of Powers. I'm here to bring you to Kori."

            "Kori?" asked Kuwabara. "Who's Kori?" Zani let out a sigh, shaking her head.

            "Okay, lets see if I remember everything." She pointed to Hiei. "You're Hiei- you don't like Kori because she's better than you and you both know it." As Kuwabara burst out laughing, her finger went to him. "Kuwabara- Hiei doesn't like you because your a dork... Kori thinks the same, but she puts up with you."  Before Kuwabara could say a word, Zani turned to Yusuke. "Yusuke- the cousin/best friend." He nodded, prompting her to turn to Kurama. "And you're Kurama- the one she loves." Kurama nodded.

            "This "Kori" you talk of must be Kaira," he replied. "The new Kori Guardian, am I right?" Zani nodded.

            "You are correct, Sir. And she's waiting for... wait, who's she?" Zani pointed to Yukina, who was hiding behind Kuwabara.

            "She's an Ice Demon," Yusuke told her. "She came here to help Kaira- we didn't know if she was still sick or not."

            "Did she sound sick when you spoke with her?" asked Zani.

            "No, but she wouldn't be Kaira if she told you how she was really feeling."

            "I know Kaira Sonique," Yukina chipped in. "She asked me to be on the look out for whoever might be the Kori Guardian... I must admit, though- Kaira Urameshi was the last person I thought of for this job."

            "Makes two of us," muttered Hiei. There was a pause. 

            "Okay," Zani said. "Twenty Questions is over- my ride's this way."

            "This is too easy, Fox," I said. "I play Change of Heart, taking control of your Mysitcal Elf and I sacrifice her and my Magician of Faith to play Wingweaver in attack mode and directly attack your life points. I win." Fox gave me a blank stare.

            "You didn't tell me you've played before!" he cried, angrily. I rolled my eyes.

            "Please- I have my own deck, duel mat, I keep them with me, and you think I don't play?" He muttered something under his breath, but I didn't push on what it was. "Zani's been gone a long time," I commented. "But I have a feeling she can handle herself."

            "Being Urameshi's cousin," said Jin, "you should be pretty good yourself." I turned to him and smiled.

            "It that a challange, Wind Master?" I asked him. "And even if it is, are you sure you're up to it?" Jin smiled back and gave a nod.

            "I am if you are. Shall we?" He gestured towards a staircase. "That leads to the Castle Arena- we usually train here." I nodded, and followed him up the stairs. When we got to the top, he charged at me, his fists looking like hurricanes. I jumped into the air, dodging the attack and came down behind him, driving my foot into his back. He flew across the room, did a flip in the air and landed on his feet, clearly out of breath.

            "Wow," he thought. "And I thought Urameshi was tough..." He was about to launch another attack, when I launched one I didn't even know I had.

            I put my hands together in front of me, the palms of one hand touching the fingers of the other. As my hands began to glow an icy blue, they did a 180, then slid away from each other, sending a large ball of blue light straight at Jin. Had it missed him, I would have felt better. But it hit him square in the chest and he turned into a large ice statue!

            "Oh my God!" I yelled. "Jin!" I ran over to him, horrified as humanly possible. "Holy shit, what have I done?!"

            "Chill out, Kori." I turned around to see Zani standing behind me, a smirk on her face- it was one of those smirks that comes right as says "I know something you don't... and by the way, this is funnier than hell." I was in so much shock, I didn't even notice the rest of my friends were with her.

            "I-I don't know what I did," I stammered. "We were fighting and then I turned him into a popsicle!"

            "Chill out, Kori," Zani said again. "He'll be fine in three... two... one..." As suddenly as he had changed, Jin was back to normal, a confused look on his face.

            "What.... hit me...?" I raised my hand meekly.

            "That would be me... not quite sure how, but yeah that was me." I heard clapping coming from the back of the room and turned around. Sonique was standing in the doorway, smiling.

            "Congratulations, Kaira- you've gained your first power."


End file.
